Congestion pricing based on dynamic features of the Macroscopic Fundamental Diagram
Open access
Date
2014Type
- Working Paper
ETH Bibliography
yes
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Abstract
Studies into optimal congestion pricing are typically based on analytical representations of travel choices and network traffic flows. In this paper we show how congestion pricing schemes (or more precisely, cordon tolls) can be derived from the concept of the Macroscopic Fundamental Diagram (MFD). This approach is consistent with the transport economic notion of marginal cost pricing, while it also enables to realistically account for the dynamics and heterogeneity in the (aggregated) network traffic flow conditions. To this end, we first analyze the hysterical dynamic relations between the macroscopic fundamental traffic variables of network speed, network production, network accumulation, and spatial variance in the network accumulation. Subsequently, we show how through these relations captured by the generalized MFD one can compute the marginal costs of a surplus of traffic inside the cordon area, which is then used as a basis to design a flat toll and step toll pricing scheme. Furthermore, a third tolling scheme is designed to explicitly account for the temporal hysteresis loops in the MFD and the influence of the spatial variance in network accumulation. The pricing framework is implemented in the agent-based simulation model MATSim and applied to a case study of the city of Zurich. The alternative tolling schemes are evaluated against a number of traffic performance indicators to show how these deal with the hysteresis and spatial variance in the network accumulation. Show more
Permanent link
https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000083502Publication status
publishedJournal / series
Arbeitsberichte Verkehrs- und RaumplanungVolume
Publisher
IVT, ETH ZurichSubject
Macroscopic Fundamental Diagram; Spatial spread of congestion; Hysteresis; Dynamic Congestion Pricing; Cordon - based Pricing SchemesOrganisational unit
03521 - Axhausen, Kay W. (emeritus) / Axhausen, Kay W. (emeritus)
02226 - NSL - Netzwerk Stadt und Landschaft / NSL - Network City and Landscape
02655 - Netzwerk Stadt u. Landschaft ARCH u BAUG / Network City and Landscape ARCH and BAUG
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ETH Bibliography
yes
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