Research On The Railway Optimal Pricing Based On The Passenger Travel Choice Behavior

Since the Chinese economy has been growing rapidly, the travel demand is being increasingly more great and complex, at the same time, the rapid development of high-speed railway makes it compete fiercely with the other passenger traffic. Studying the travel choice behavior can be helpful to understand the actual travel demand status of passengers, which has important reference value to constitute the price. In order to maximize transport companies’ revenue and minimize passenger’s generalized travel cost,considering two socio-economic characteristics attributes into passenger travel utility function, such as income level and travelling purpose, this paper puts forward a pricing model based on passenger travel choice behavior. The rationality and availability of the model are verified by an example. The reaseach in this paper provides certain theoretical basis and some suggestion for optimal ticket pricing of railway. The details are as follows:Firstly, starting with the characteristics of railway ticket pricing, this paper analyzes main influence factors on ticket pricing according to the structure of transportion products, and points out problems in railway ticket pricing. Then the paper summarizes related pricing theories and models, noting their advantages and disadvantages, as well as application condition.Secondly, this paper focus on the competitiveness of high-speed railway. Giving a brief overview of main transportations in transportation corridors, analyzing the process of passenger travel choice behavior, this paper analyzes railway’s competitiveness from transport supply factors to socio-economic characteristics, then segments the passenger transport market.Afterwards, with transport market segmentation as a preconditionon, the travel time value calculation model is eatalished on consumer choice. In order to maximize transport companies’s revenue and minimize passenger’s generalized travel cost, a bi-Ievel planning model is established to describe the pricing mechanism, considering the socio-economic characteristics and transport supply factors. To solve the model, heuristic algorithm based on sensitivity analysis method is used in the whole ticket pricing model.At last, taking high-speed railway from Beijing to Shanghai as an example, according to the questionnaire data and statistical data, this paper has used the established fare optimization model to calculate optimal tariff rate in each high-speed railway segments, respectively using this paper’s fare optimization model and the existing unified pricing, this paper has calculated the railway companies’ revenue and passenger’s generalized travel cost, several recommendations are put forward for ticket pricing optimization of high-speed railway.This paper is mainly aiming at enhancing revenue of railway companies, taking accont into most passenger’s travel utility. Through passenger transport data of Beijing-Shanghai channel, the feasibility and rationality of the model has been verified, reaching the goal of maximizing transport companies’revenue and minimizing passenger’s generalized travel cost.