Buying into the Bypass: Allowing Trucks to pay to use the Ramp Meter Bypasses

Satya Muthuswamy and David Levinson

No 200302, Working Papers from University of Minnesota: Nexus Research Group

Abstract: People make their route choices based on the delays they experience but not on the delays they impose on others. Moreover different travelers have different values of time. Road Pricing can be seen as the means to optimize the use of a roadway by charging each traveler the cost he imposes on others. This paper analyzes the opening of an HOV ramp meter bypass to trucks that pay a toll. Trucks are similar to HOV as both have a higher value of time than a single occupant car. Thus, by saving time for these vehicles the system stands to gain. The toll to be set was estimated under three scenarios ­ user benefit maximization, profit maximization and system benefit maximization. A queue was simulated, and based on the decision criteria the optimal toll was determined. It is found that to maximize the system welfare, the high Value of Time vehicles like trucks should be allowed to use the bypass for free, but that raises some equity and operational issues. However a toll that allows trucks to use the bypass improves the welfare over simply prohibiting the trucks from the bypass.

Keywords: Trucks; HOV; Ramp Meter; Pricing . (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D20 R40 R41 R48 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003
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Published in Journal of the Transportation Research Forum in Transportation Quarterly 57(1), Winter 2003 (81-92)

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http://hdl.handle.net/11299/179907 First version, 2007 (application/pdf)

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Journal Article: Buying Into the Bypass: Allowing Trucks to Pay to Use the Ramp Meter Bypasses (2003)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nex:wpaper:bypass

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