Mathematical and Economic Theory of Road Pricing

Road pricing is an idea whose time has come. As we invoke new information and computer technologies to monitor, manage and operate or transportation systems more efficiently and effectively, and as we wrestle with significant and growing problems of environment, congestion, energy and equity affecting urban transport, new and alternative solutions are needed. We have to make urban transportation more sustainable, more responsive, and more intelligent. Road pricing is one approach to achieving these goals, a smarter way of running a transportation system. Whilst the concepts and constructs of road pricing have been well known for some time, the methods and technology to employ them have only recently arrived, and the socio-political will to implement road pricing is just beginning to appear. Professor Yang is one of the world's leading transportation scientists and has devoted his recent research to the topic of road pricing, leading to the development of theories and models for analysing and optimising the likely impacts of road pricing schemes, and to methods for selecting the appropriate scheme for a given urban area. This book provides a coherent, in-depth and intelligible treatment of the topic, drawing on Professor Yangs extensive research, knowledge and understanding. Its account of the topic, its history, capabilities and complexities, and alternative approaches and potential for application to cities around the world will be of interest to transportation engineers and planners, both in research and practice. It is set to become a seminal work on road pricing and will be of value to academics, researchers, policy analysts and students in transportation engineering and planning. Professor M.A.P. Taylor, University of South Australia

• Introduction. Fundamentals of User-Equilibrium Problems. The First-Best Road Pricing Problems. The Second-Best Road Pricing Problems: A Sensitivity Analysis Based Approach.The Second-Best Road Pricing Problems: A Gap Function Based Approach. Discriminatory and Anonymous Road Pricing. Social and Spatial Equities and Revenue Redistribution. Pricing, Capacity Choice and Financing. Simultaneous Determination of Optimal Toll Levels and Locations. Sequential Pricing Experiments with Limited Information. Bounding the Efficiency Gain or Loss of Road Pricing. Dynamic Road Pricing: Single and Parallel Bottleneck Models. Dynamic Road Pricing: General Network Models.