Traffic assignment problem under tradable credit scheme in a bi-modal stochastic transportation network: A cumulative prospect theory approach

Abstract

The traffic equilibrium assignment problem under tradable credit scheme (TCS) in a bi-modal stochastic transportation network is investigated in this paper. To describe traveler’s risk-taking behaviors under uncertainty, the cumulative prospect theory (CPT) is adopted. Travelers are assumed to choose the paths with the minimum perceived generalized path costs, consisting of time prospect value (PV) and monetary cost. At equilibrium with a given TCS, the endogenous reference points and credit price remain constant, and are consistent with the equilibrium flow pattern and the corresponding travel time distributions of road sub-network. To describe such an equilibrium state, the CPT-based stochastic user equilibrium (SUE) conditions can be formulated under TCS. An equivalent variational inequality (VI) model embedding a parameterized fixed point (FP) model is then established, with its properties analyzed theoretically. A heuristic solution algorithm is developed to solve the model, which contains two-layer iterations. The outer iteration is a bisection-based contraction method to find the equilibrium credit price, and the inner iteration is essentially the method of successive averages (MSA) to determine the corresponding CPT-based SUE network flow pattern. Numerical experiments are provided to validate the model and algorithm.