A Decision Support System for analysing conflicts related to pricing policies implementation

  • Mariano Gallo Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Università del Sannio
  • Luca D'Acierno Dipartimento di Ingegneria dei Trasporti dell’Università di Napoli “Federico II”
  • Roberta Ciccarelli Dottore di Ricerca in Ingegneria dei Sistemi Idraulici, di Trasporto e Territoriali
  • Bruno Montella Dipartimento di Ingegneria dei Trasporti dell’Università di Napoli “Federico II”
DOI: https://doi.org/10.6092/1970-9870/603

Abstract

In recent years several European cities have introduced pricing policies as a tool for managing transport demand, especially to reduce traffic congestion and rebalance the modal split between private vehicles and mass-transit systems. Indeed, user behaviour brings about a User Equilibrium condition which does not correspond to overall utility maximisation and fails to take account of external costs. Hence, in order to achieve the efficient use of transportation systems (System Equilibrium), tolls can be charged on urban roads so that the social surplus is maximised. For several reasons (theoretical, political, social acceptability) it is impossible to charge “efficient tolls” (first-best solutions) proposed in the literature; therefore in real networks sub-optimal tolls (second-best solutions) are applied. Moreover, one of the main problems related to pricing policy application is their acceptability among community and/or social categories (such as shopkeepers, residents, commuters, etc.) leading to conflicts and oppositions.

In this paper we analyse the effects on optimal fare design when pricing revenues are wholly or partly used for improving public transport. In particular, we formulate a model according to economic theory in a multimodal and multiuser context, where multimodal features are calculated explicitly on the network for each fare configuration. The model is applied on a trial network (built with heterogeneous values of relative accessibility among different traffic zones) and several second-best strategies are analysed with particular attention to the use of pricing revenue.

 

 

 

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Author Biographies

Mariano Gallo, Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Università del Sannio

Mariano Gallo is an Associate Professor of Transportation system planning in the Department of Engineering at the University of Sannio, Benevento (Italy). He received his Ph.D. in Transportation engineering at ‘La Sapienza’ University of Rome (Italy). His research interests include transportation network design and transit system optimisation. He is author/co-author of 65 national and international papers.

Luca D'Acierno, Dipartimento di Ingegneria dei Trasporti dell’Università di Napoli “Federico II”

Luca D’Acierno is an Assistant Professor of Organisation and safety in rail network operations in the Department of Transportation Engineering at ‘Federico II’ University of Naples (Italy). He received his Ph.D. in Road infrastructures and transportation systems at ‘Federico II’ University of Naples (Italy). His primary research focuses on traffic assignment models and multimodal transportation systems. He is author/co-author of 91 national and international papers.

Roberta Ciccarelli, Dottore di Ricerca in Ingegneria dei Sistemi Idraulici, di Trasporto e Territoriali

Roberta Ciccarelli is a Civil Engineering. She received his Ph.D. in Hydraulics, transport and territorial systems at ‘Federico II’ University of Naples (Italy). Her research interests include pricing policy analyses and implementations. She is author/co-author of 14 national and international papers.

Bruno Montella, Dipartimento di Ingegneria dei Trasporti dell’Università di Napoli “Federico II”

Bruno Montella is a Full Professor of Transportation system design in the Department of Transportation Engineering at ‘Federico II’ University of Naples (Italy). He is Director of the master in Rail services and systems engineering at ‘Federico II’ University of Naples (Italy). His primary research focuses on transit system analysis, management and design. He is author/co-author of national and international 142 papers.

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How to Cite
GalloM., D’AciernoL., CiccarelliR., & MontellaB. (1). A Decision Support System for analysing conflicts related to pricing policies implementation. TeMA - Journal of Land Use, Mobility and Environment, 4(4), 11-24. https://doi.org/10.6092/1970-9870/603
Issue
Vol 4 No 4 (2011): Mobility and conflicts
Section
Researches

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