Experimental Study on Effect of Congestion Toll and Information on Route Choice Behavior in Uncertain Environment

Abstract:

Considering the two measures of information release and congestion charging under uncertain environment， and based on traffic network equilibrium， an optimal toll model of the simple two-route road network is derived and is extended to the general road network. Based on the two-route network， a day-to-day route choice behavior experiment is conducted. The impact of the two measures on travelers’ route choice behavior is analyzed. The results show that the implementation of perfect information and congestion charging can both reduce the flow fluctuation， and the effect of congestion charging alone is the best. However， only when the two measures are combined， the trend of road network flow towards user equilibrium is the most stable. Perfect information will increase route switching behavior， while congestion charging can effectively inhibit large route switching. When there is no congestion toll， route switching often increases the travel cost. On the contrary， when congestion toll is implemented， route switching can often reduce the travel cost. The travel time when the two measures of congestion tolling and traffic information release are implemented together is better than that when the two measures are implemented separately.