Welfare Economic Analysis of Motorist Information in a One-Route Network

In this chapter, a stochastic network deterministic user equilibrium model (SNDUE), as discussed in Chapter 4, is analysed. In this model the reason of the stochasticity relates to the capacity of the network, not to the perceptions of the individual drivers. The objective of this model is to enhance the insights into the welfare economic effects of information provision to a group of drivers, and to gain insight into the mechanisms affecting the impact of providing information. This is done by theoretically analysing the impact of information provision on network efficiency. In addition, the equity aspects of information provision are considered by answering questions such as “who benefits (or disbenefits) most from information?” and “do uninformed drivers also benefit?”. In order to study these questions, the analysis is confined to the economic fundamentals of information provision and therefore limited to using simple economic equilibrium models rather than complex equilibrium assignment models. Although the latter ones can be extremely useful, particularly in the well-known four step transport model (Ortuzar and Willumsen, 1994), they are less appropriate for the objective in this chapter, as the complexity of these models may frustrate the objective of obtaining clear insight into the fundamentals of information provision.