Does Differential Pricing Affect Route Choice of the Peak Hour Metro Passengers? A Case Study in Shanghai Metro System*

This paper investigates the effect of differential pricing on the route choice of the peak hour metro passengers. Our findings show that travelers tend to reroute incented by differential pricing to avoid the overcrowding segments, even if the alternative route has a slight long time and more transfers. By conducting the SP (Stated Preference) survey at stations in the Shanghai metro system, the real sample data were collected. And the binary logit model fits best to estimate the impact of differential pricing on the route choice of the peak hour metro passengers. The results show that some socio-demographic characteristics of passengers can influence their route choice behavior to a certain extent. Meanwhile, differential pricing has a significant effect on the route choice when passengers suffer from the oversaturated situations during peak hours.