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A Model of Rush-Hour Traffic in an Isotropic Downtown Area

Author

Listed:
  • Richard Arnott

    (Department of Economics, University of California Riverside)

  • Anatolii Kokoza

    (University of Arizona)

  • Mehdi Naji

    (University of California, Riverside)

Abstract

For a quarter century, a top priority in transportation economic theory has been to develop models of rush-hour traffic dynamics that incorporate traffic jams (hypercongestion). The difficulty has been that "proper" models result in mathematical intractabilty, while none of the proposed approximating models has gained general acceptance. This paper takes a different tack, focusing on a particular proper model in which commuters decide when to travel so as to minimize a trip cost function that is linear in travel time and schedule delay (the so-called α-β-γ variant of the bottleneck model). Solutions of all the model variants entail departure/arrival masses.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard Arnott & Anatolii Kokoza & Mehdi Naji, 2015. "A Model of Rush-Hour Traffic in an Isotropic Downtown Area," Working Papers 201511, University of California at Riverside, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucr:wpaper:201511
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    File URL: https://economics.ucr.edu/repec/ucr/wpaper/201511.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fosgerau, Mogens & Small, Kenneth A., 2013. "Hypercongestion in downtown metropolis," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 122-134.
    2. Fosgerau, Mogens, 2015. "Congestion in the bathtub," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 4(4), pages 241-255.
    3. Geroliminis, Nikolas & Daganzo, Carlos F., 2008. "Existence of urban-scale macroscopic fundamental diagrams: Some experimental findings," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 42(9), pages 759-770, November.
    4. Arnott, Richard & DePalma, Elijah, 2011. "The corridor problem: Preliminary results on the no-toll equilibrium," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 45(5), pages 743-768, June.
    5. Ben-Akiva, Moshe & Cyna, Michèle & de Palma, André, 1984. "Dynamic model of peak period congestion," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 18(4-5), pages 339-355.
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    7. Arnott, Richard, 2013. "A bathtub model of downtown traffic congestion," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 110-121.
    8. Vickrey, William S, 1969. "Congestion Theory and Transport Investment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 59(2), pages 251-260, May.
    9. Nikolas Geroliminis & David M. Levinson, 2009. "Cordon Pricing Consistent with the Physics of Overcrowding," Springer Books, in: William H. K. Lam & S. C. Wong & Hong K. Lo (ed.), Transportation and Traffic Theory 2009: Golden Jubilee, chapter 0, pages 219-240, Springer.
    10. Arnott, Richard & Inci, Eren, 2010. "The stability of downtown parking and traffic congestion," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 260-276, November.
    11. Carson E. Agnew, 1976. "Dynamic Modeling and Control of Congestion-Prone Systems," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 24(3), pages 400-419, June.
    12. Daganzo, Carlos F. & Lehe, Lewis J., 2015. "Distance-dependent congestion pricing for downtown zones," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 89-99.
    13. Arnott, Richard & de Palma, Andre & Lindsey, Robin, 1993. "A Structural Model of Peak-Period Congestion: A Traffic Bottleneck with Elastic Demand," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(1), pages 161-179, March.
    14. Chung, Koohong & Rudjanakanoknad, Jittichai & Cassidy, Michael J., 2007. "Relation between traffic density and capacity drop at three freeway bottlenecks," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 82-95, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Arnott, Richard & Kokoza, Anatolii & Naji, Mehdi, 2016. "Equilibrium traffic dynamics in a bathtub model: A special case," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 7, pages 38-52.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    equilibrium; rush hour; traffic congestion;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L91 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Transportation: General
    • R41 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Transportation: Demand, Supply, and Congestion; Travel Time; Safety and Accidents; Transportation Noise

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