Improving Operational Efficiency for a Two-Way Highway Toll Station

Abstract

This paper addresses the over congestion issue at a real highway toll station and proposes the optimal design and operation policy to improve the overall system performance — minimizing both customer waiting and toll station’s operational costs. Based on the empirical data of Liuzhong Highway Tianshui Road toll station (LHTR-station), the real-time arrival rates of the traffic flows in both directions have been characterized via statistical analysis. Using an M/D/1 queuing model and stationary independent period-by-period (SIPP) and peak-hour approximations for the time-varying arrival rates, (i.e. two hours per period and 12 periods a day), we develop the optimal staffing levels in both directions of highway toll station. Then, the optimal staffing schedules are developed for different scenarios, for example, four-hour working a day, six-hour working a day, eight-hour working a day, and four-hour working and two-hour resting and four-hour working a day. The operating costs are compared for different schedules used in practice. Finally, using the empirical data of LHTR-station, we evaluate the performance improvement with the schedules suggested by our analysis. It has been found that the operation efficiency for LHTR-station can be improved significantly. This paper shows the value of using the operations research models innovatively to solve real-world problems.