Pricing Strategy Of Traffic Information Under Double-Objective Route Guidance Systems

Since the development of information technology, in transportation network, it is practical to provide real-time traffic information to travelers,the study of pricing strategy of traffic information has become a hotspot in transportation science field. However, most of these studies concentrate on the two aspects below: one is the study on pricing strategy under the single-objective route guidance based on travel time; the other is the study on market penetration under multi-objective route guidance. But less attention is paid on the study of pricing strategy under multi-objective route guidance. To solve this problem, travel disutility function is modeled on the basis of a weighting travel time and travel cost, and the difference of pricing strategy is compared under the single-objective and double-objective route guidance on the condition of analyzing the plus profits of information users, information providers and the traffic manager. Finally, satisfying the plus profits of three parties, the traffic information price can be given under double-objective route guidance.In the paper, travel disutility function is modeled on the basis of a weighting of travel time and travel cost, the route choice behaviors of travelers are characterized by two sets of the stochastic user equilibrium. Finally, the penetration of ATIS (advanced traveler information systems) services is modeled. The mixed-equilibrium model consists of three components: travel disutility function, route choice principle and modeling ATIS market penetration.Pricing strategy of traffic information is related to three perspectives: information users, information providers and traffic manager. The profits functions of three perspectives are modeled. Conflict must be existent among three perspectives according to the profit function, the quality of information and traffic information price are the tradeoff to the conflict of three perspectives.To take advantage of recent algorithms developed for VIP (variational inequality problem), the mixed-equilibrium model is transformed to an equivalent VIP, and the projection method is chosen for solving VIP. Through the regression analysis in SPSS software, the profits curves of three perspectives are plot on the...