Diverging and merging of household and individual commuter flows in morning commute problem

Abstract

The morning and evening peak hours warrant substantial academic investigation. The primary purposes of commuting during peak hours are typically for school and work. School locations often deviate from the primary home-to-work commuting corridors, thus leading to the diverging and merging of commuting flow. To investigate the traffic system, this study focused on the commuting system in a “triangle with a tail” network. This traffic system is complicated, and we analyzed it from the perspectives of traffic flow and travel behavior.

This study investigated the impact of school and company scheduling on commuters’ departure decisions and travel costs, considering various ratios of heterogeneous commuter demands. It derived the equilibrium travel patterns for both household and individual commuters during morning commutes within the network. We found that a Pareto improving strategy for the transportation system exists in some cases; and the capacity expansion paradox can be avoided with an appropriate staggering. When considering costs, governments can make decisions about whether or not to expand roads. These analyses and findings can shed light on the policy-making of the traffic system with household and individual commuters.