Exploring User Behavior in Online Network Equilibrium Problems

Abstract

The availability of advanced traveler information systems technologies has provided opportunities for travelers to obtain online travel information and thereby improve their travel experiences. The resulting change in user behavior because of such information needs to be accounted for in traffic assignment models. A methodology that accounts for user recourse in the traffic assignment problem is proposed. This methodology accounts for the heterogeneity in user information perception by using a sequential form of logit model. Hyperpaths instead of elementary paths are used in this approach. A key difficulty in modeling online recourse in network assignment problems is in obtaining efficient hyperpaths. A methodology that uses a sequential form of logit model that obviates explicit enumeration of hyperpaths is proposed. Computational results from a hypothetical transportation network are presented to demonstrate the application of the proposed assignment approach.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Hazelton

M. L.

Some Remarks on Stochastic User Equilibrium. Transportation Research B, Vol. 32, 1998, pp. 101–108.

Nguyen

, and Pallottino

(eds.). Hyperpaths and Shortest Hyperpaths. In Combinatorial Optimization, Lecture Notes in Mathematics 1403, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1986, pp. 258–271.

Marcotte

, and Nguyen

(eds.). Hyperpath Formulations of Traffic Assignment Problems. In Equilibrium and Advanced Transportation Modeling, Kluwer Academic Publishers, New York, 1998, pp. 175–199.

Spiess

, and Florian

Optimal Strategies: A New Assignment Model for Transit Networks. Transportation Research B, Vol. 23, 1989, pp. 83–102.

Gao

Optimal Adaptive Routing and Traffic Assignment in Stochastic Time Dependent Networks. PhD thesis. MIT, Cambridge, Mass., 2005.

Hamdouch

, Marcotte

, and Nguyen

A Strategic Model for Dynamic Traffic Assignment. Networks and Spatial Economics, Vol. 4, 2004, pp. 291–315.

Ukkusuri

Accounting for Uncertainty, Robustness and Online Information in Transportation Networks. PhD thesis. University of Texas, Austin, 2005.

Waller

S. T.

, and Ziliaskopoulos

A. K.

On the Online Shortest Path Problem with Limited Arc Cost Dependencies. Networks, Vol. 40, No. 4, 2002, pp. 216–227.

Daganzo

F. C.

, and Sheffi

On Stochastic Models of Traffic Assignment. Transportation Science, Vol. 11, No. 3, 1977.

10.

Powell

W. B.

, and Sheffi

The Convergence of Equilibrium Algorithm with Predetermined Step Sizes. Transportation Science, Vol. 16, 1982, pp. 45–55.

11.

Sheffi

, and Powell

W. B.

An Assignment for the Equilibrium Assignment Problem with Random Link Times. Networks, Vol. 12, 1982, pp. 191–207.

12.

Nguyen

, Pallotino

, and Gendreau

Implicit Enumeration of Hyperpaths in a Logit Model for Transit Network. Transportation Science, Vol. 32, No. 1, 1998, pp. 54–64.

13.

Dial

R. B.

A Probabilistic Multipath Traffic Assignment Model Which Obviates Path Enumeration. Transportation Research, Vol. 5, 1971, pp. 83–111.

14.

Maher

Algorithms for Logit-Based Stochastic User Equilibrium Assignment. Transportation Research B, Vol. 32, No. 8, 1998, pp. 539–549.

15.

Prashker

J. N.

, and Bekhor

Route Choice Models Used in the Stochastic User Equilibrium Problem: A Review. Transport Reviews, Vol. 24, No. 4, 2004, pp. 437–463.

16.

Sheffi

Urban Transportation Networks: Equilibrium Analysis with Mathematical Programming Methods. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1985.