A prospect-based user equilibrium model with endogenous reference points and its application in congestion pricing

作者：Xu, Hongli; Lou, Yingyan; Yin, Yafeng^*; Zhou, Jing

来源：Transportation Research Part B: Methodological , 2011, 45(2): 311-328.

DOI：10.1016/j.trb.2010.09.003

• User equilibrium
• Stochastic network
• Cumulative prospect theory
• Reference points and congestion pricing

Given that the cumulative prospect theory provides a well-supported descriptive paradigm for decision making under risk or uncertainty, previous studies applied the theory to model travelers' route choice behaviors in stochastic networks and developed prospect-based user equilibrium models. The models rely on exogenous inputs of reference points and thus the resulting reference-dependence could be regarded as an ad hoc assumption. This paper proposes a conjecture on travelers' determination of reference points and encapsulates it into the prospect-based user equilibrium conditions. The conditions are formulated as an equivalent variational inequality and a heuristic solution algorithm is proposed to solve it. Both the model and the solution algorithm are demonstrated in two numerical examples. As one application, this paper further develops an optimal pricing model in which the proposed user equilibrium model is adopted to capture travelers' response to pricing signals under risk. The pricing model is formulated as a mathematical program with complementarity constraints, solved by a derivative-free algorithm. Another numerical example is presented to illustrate the pricing model and the solution algorithm.

• 出版日期2011-2
• 单位南京大学