Potential of carpool for network traffic management
This study examines the impact of carpool on network traffic in a highly idealized futuristic world, where all travelers are willing to participate in carpool arranged by a Transportation Network Company. We build a parsimonious carpool model that focuses on the trade-off between inconvenience costs...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.
2022-06-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Transportation Science and Technology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2046043021000289 |
| _version_ | 1797756601306710016 |
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| author | Yu (Marco) Nie Ruijie Li |
| author_facet | Yu (Marco) Nie Ruijie Li |
| author_sort | Yu (Marco) Nie |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This study examines the impact of carpool on network traffic in a highly idealized futuristic world, where all travelers are willing to participate in carpool arranged by a Transportation Network Company. We build a parsimonious carpool model that focuses on the trade-off between inconvenience costs and travel cost savings. Underlying the model is a nonlinear bipartite matching problem that seeks to maximize commuters’ welfare. By assuming the congestion effect is negligible, we derive several useful analytical results. When the inconvenience cost is less than the median trip valuation of a rider, the platform could always achieve an almost perfect match while maximizing commuters’ welfare, which corresponds to a 50% reduction in vehicular traffic flow. In the case of perfect match, if there is an even number of travelers, we propose a pricing policy that possesses all desired properties of the Vickrey-Clark-Groves (VCG) policy – a benchmark truthful policy for achieving socially optimal solution – but runs a lower deficit. Otherwise, we show the VCG policy always generates a profit. If the inconvenience cost is too high, the perfect match is no longer socially optimal, but the VCG policy still yields a positive profit. Solutions from numerical experiments generally agree with the analytical results. They also suggest that matching across O-D pairs occurs only when it has a significantly lower inconvenience cost than matching within, an unlikely event in reality. Moreover, when cross O-D matching does become prevalent, it leads to higher vehicle miles travelled, hence worse congestion. Thus, from the point of view of traffic management, cross O-D carpool should not be encouraged. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T18:02:55Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e6dd4cf8c581470ba7c3dd116edf60f1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2046-0430 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T18:02:55Z |
| publishDate | 2022-06-01 |
| publisher | KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal of Transportation Science and Technology |
| spelling | doaj.art-e6dd4cf8c581470ba7c3dd116edf60f12023-08-02T09:33:07ZengKeAi Communications Co., Ltd.International Journal of Transportation Science and Technology2046-04302022-06-01112328343Potential of carpool for network traffic managementYu (Marco) Nie0Ruijie Li1Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA; Corresponding author.School of Transportation and Logistics Southwest Jiaotong University Chengdu, ChinaThis study examines the impact of carpool on network traffic in a highly idealized futuristic world, where all travelers are willing to participate in carpool arranged by a Transportation Network Company. We build a parsimonious carpool model that focuses on the trade-off between inconvenience costs and travel cost savings. Underlying the model is a nonlinear bipartite matching problem that seeks to maximize commuters’ welfare. By assuming the congestion effect is negligible, we derive several useful analytical results. When the inconvenience cost is less than the median trip valuation of a rider, the platform could always achieve an almost perfect match while maximizing commuters’ welfare, which corresponds to a 50% reduction in vehicular traffic flow. In the case of perfect match, if there is an even number of travelers, we propose a pricing policy that possesses all desired properties of the Vickrey-Clark-Groves (VCG) policy – a benchmark truthful policy for achieving socially optimal solution – but runs a lower deficit. Otherwise, we show the VCG policy always generates a profit. If the inconvenience cost is too high, the perfect match is no longer socially optimal, but the VCG policy still yields a positive profit. Solutions from numerical experiments generally agree with the analytical results. They also suggest that matching across O-D pairs occurs only when it has a significantly lower inconvenience cost than matching within, an unlikely event in reality. Moreover, when cross O-D matching does become prevalent, it leads to higher vehicle miles travelled, hence worse congestion. Thus, from the point of view of traffic management, cross O-D carpool should not be encouraged.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2046043021000289CarpoolPerfect matchPricingVCG policy |
| spellingShingle | Yu (Marco) Nie Ruijie Li Potential of carpool for network traffic management International Journal of Transportation Science and Technology Carpool Perfect match Pricing VCG policy |
| title | Potential of carpool for network traffic management |
| title_full | Potential of carpool for network traffic management |
| title_fullStr | Potential of carpool for network traffic management |
| title_full_unstemmed | Potential of carpool for network traffic management |
| title_short | Potential of carpool for network traffic management |
| title_sort | potential of carpool for network traffic management |
| topic | Carpool Perfect match Pricing VCG policy |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2046043021000289 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT yumarconie potentialofcarpoolfornetworktrafficmanagement AT ruijieli potentialofcarpoolfornetworktrafficmanagement |