Economics of a Bottleneck

This paper is the first of a series that will examine the economics of congestable facilities bottleneck model. To fix ideas, the problem is framed in terms of rush-hour traffic flow. However, the analysis can be extended to treat telecommunications usage, electricity consumption, computer utilization, and public facilities such as swimming pools. In the model, a fixed number of identical individuals, one per car, must travel from home to work. Between home and work is a bottleneck of given capacity. The costs of travel are queuing time and schedule delay, due to early and late arrival at work. Equilibrium under various toll structures is characterized, and the corresponding optimal capacities are determined. Subsequent papers will extend the model to incorporate heterogeneity of individuals, stochastic capacity, alternative treatments of congestion, and a road network.

• Corporate Authors:

  University of British Columbia, Vancouver

  Centre for Transportation Studies
  Vancouver, British Columbia  Canada  V6T 1W5
• Authors:
  • Arnott, Richard
  • de Palma, Andre
  • Lindsey, Robin
• Conference:
  • Research for Tomorrow's Transport Requirements. Proceedings of the Fourth World Conference on Transport Research
  • Location: Vancouver British Columbia, Canada
  • Date: 1986-5-0 to 1986-5-0
• Publication Date: 1986

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 1649-1668
• Monograph Title: Research for Tomorrow’s Transport Requirements

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bottlenecks; Economics; Equilibrium (Systems); Highway capacity; Peak hour traffic; Route choice; Traffic congestion; Traffic flow; Traffic queuing; Work trips
• Uncontrolled Terms: Queing theory
• Subject Areas: Economics; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01082824
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Dec 18 2007 11:52AM