Stochastic Choice Behavior on Road Traffic Networks under Information Provision

Abstract

This paper attempts to model stochastic choice behavior in simultaneous trip route and departure time decision-making on road traffic networks, taking into account information quality and individual differences in information interpretation among the population of travelers. Different from the traditional stochastic model, the proposed choice behavior model assumes that road users simultaneously select the trip routes and departure times that have the largest probabilities of incurring the least generalized travel costs. This model is applicable in both static and dynamic settings and can be applied to both ordinary travelers as well as operators of emergent vehicles, e.g., the fire engine. The preliminary numerical experiments show that the proposed stochastic choice model can reflect the overreaction phenomena reported in studies of traffic information provision and the impacts of the types of traffic information on the effectiveness of information provision. This model opens a potential way to analyze network equilibrium behavior taking into account individual differences in the ability of information interpretation as well as information quality.