scholarly journals Morning Peak-Period Pricing Surcharge of Elderly Passengers Taking Express Buses

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Jingxu Chen ◽  
Chengxin He ◽  
Xinlian Yu ◽  
Wendong Chen

This study deals with the elderly fare pricing issue for taking express buses in the morning peak period. As many elderly passengers are not commuters, fare discount policy may not be an opportune option when buses get overcrowded. Imposing surcharge on the elderly becomes a potentially beneficial measure that encourages an appropriate number of elderly passengers to circumvent the most crowded buses. The elderly pricing surcharge problem is formulated as a bilevel model, in which the upper-level model is to make the pricing surcharge decision, and the lower-level model is the equilibrium passenger assignment that represents passengers’ bus choice behavior. It is classified into the special case and the generic case depending on the number of buses that impose surcharge. Several useful properties of two cases are analyzed, and a trial-and-error solution method is later developed to solve these two cases. Numerical experiments show that the elderly pricing surcharge scheme is not always applicable to all the demand scenarios, which owns a certain effective interval.

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 3169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ho-Chul Park ◽  
Yang-Jun Joo ◽  
Seung-Young Kho ◽  
Dong-Kyu Kim ◽  
Byung-Jung Park

Bus–pedestrian crashes typically result in more severe injuries and deaths than any other type of bus crash. Thus, it is important to screen and improve the risk factors that affect bus–pedestrian crashes. However, bus–pedestrian crashes that are affected by a company’s and regional characteristics have a cross-classified hierarchical structure, which is difficult to address properly using a single-level model or even a two-level multi-level model. In this study, we used a cross-classified, multi-level model to consider simultaneously the unobserved heterogeneities at these two distinct levels. Using bus–pedestrian crash data in South Korea from 2011 through to 2015, in this study, we investigated the factors related to the injury severity of the crashes, including crash level, regional and company level factors. The results indicate that the company and regional effects are 16.8% and 5.1%, respectively, which justified the use of a multi-level model. We confirm that type I errors may arise when the effects of upper-level groups are ignored. We also identified the factors that are statistically significant, including three regional-level factors, i.e., the elderly ratio, the ratio of the transportation infrastructure budget, and the number of doctors, and 13 crash-level factors. This study provides useful insights concerning bus–pedestrian crashes, and a safety policy is suggested to enhance bus–pedestrian safety.


Energies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 2830 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chang Ye ◽  
Shihong Miao ◽  
Yaowang Li ◽  
Chao Li ◽  
Lixing Li

This paper presents a hierarchical multi-stage scheduling scheme for the AC/DC hybrid active distribution network (ADN). The load regulation center (LRC) is considered in the developed scheduling strategy, as well as the AC and DC sub-network operators. They are taken to be different stakeholders. To coordinate the interests of all stakeholders, a two-level optimization model is established. The flexible loads are dispatched by LRC in the upper-level optimization model, the objective of which is minimizing the loss of the entire distribution network. The lower-level optimization is divided into two sub-optimal models, and they are carried out to minimize the operating costs of the AC/DC sub-network operators respectively. This two-level model avoids the difficulty of solving multi-objective optimization and can clarify the role of various stakeholders in the system scheduling. To solve the model effectively, a discrete wind-driven optimization (DWDO) algorithm is proposed. Then, considering the combination of the proposed DWDO algorithm and the YALMIP toolbox, a hierarchical optimization algorithm (HOA) is developed. The HOA can obtain the overall optimization result of the system through the iterative optimization of the upper and lower levels. Finally, the simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed scheduling scheme.


Author(s):  
Yang Chen ◽  
Xiao Kou ◽  
Mohammed Olama ◽  
Helia Zandi ◽  
Chenang Liu ◽  
...  

Abstract Grid integration of the increasing distributed energy resources could be challenging in terms of new infrastructure investment, power grid stability, etc. To resolve more renewables locally and reduce the need for extensive electricity transmission, a community energy transaction market is assumed with market operator as the leader whose responsibility is to generate local energy prices and clear the energy transaction payment among the prosumers (followers). The leader and multi-followers have competitive objectives of revenue maximization and operational cost minimization. This non-cooperative leader-follower (Stackelberg) game is formulated using a bi-level optimization framework, where a novel modular pump hydro storage technology (GLIDES system) is set as an upper level market operator, and the lower level prosumers are nearby commercial buildings. The best responses of the lower level model could be derived by necessary optimality conditions, and thus the bi-level model could be transformed into single level optimization model via replacing the lower level model by its Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) necessary conditions. Several experiments have been designed to compare the local energy transaction behavior and profit distribution with the different demand response levels and different local price structures. The experimental results indicate that the lower level prosumers could benefit the most when local buying and selling prices are equal, while maximum revenue potential for the upper level agent could be reached with non-equal trading prices.


Author(s):  
Robert L. Bertini ◽  
Aaron M. Myton

To improve freeway modeling and operations, it is important to understand how traffic conditions evolve in both time and space. The widespread availability of freeway sensor data makes detailed operational analysis possible in ways that were not available in the past. This study, inspired by several other studies of a 6-mi segment of Interstate 405 in Orange County, California, describes the evolution of traffic conditions over one morning peak period by using inductive loop detector data, including vehicle count and lane occupancy measured at 30-s intervals. With cumulative curves of vehicle count and occupancy, transformed in ways that enhanced their resolution, 10 bottleneck activations were identified in time and space over one morning peak period. At bottleneck activation, queue propagation was observed in generally predictable ways. Bottleneck outflows were carefully measured only while the bottlenecks were active, that is, while queued conditions persisted upstream and unqueued (freely flowing) conditions prevailed downstream. When bottlenecks were activated immediately following freely flowing conditions, outflow reductions were observed at queue formation. These reductions were consistent with those in previous studies. The study was limited in that only one day's data were analyzed and ramp data were not available on the day analyzed. Future research will include further analysis of the same site by using more recent data now that ramp counts are available in the California Performance Measurement System database. Understanding the mechanisms that lead to bottleneck activation is a critical step toward improving the understanding of how freeways function and is necessary for addressing operational issues. This clear understanding provides a foundation for determining ramp metering rates and addressing the freeway characteristics that cause bottlenecks to form.


Electronics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 1441
Author(s):  
Saeid Esmaeili ◽  
Amjad Anvari-Moghaddam ◽  
Erfan Azimi ◽  
Alireza Nateghi ◽  
João P. S. Catalão

A bi-level operation scheduling of distribution system operator (DSO) and multi-microgrids (MMGs) considering both the wholesale market and retail market is presented in this paper. To this end, the upper-level optimization problem minimizes the total costs from DSO’s point of view, while the profits of microgrids (MGs) are maximized in the lower-level optimization problem. Besides, a scenario-based stochastic programming framework using the heuristic moment matching (HMM) method is developed to tackle the uncertain nature of the problem. In this regard, the HMM technique is employed to model the scenario matrix with a reduced number of scenarios, which is effectively suitable to achieve the correlations among uncertainties. In order to solve the proposed non-linear bi-level model, Karush–Kuhn–Tucker (KKT) optimality conditions and linearization techniques are employed to transform the bi-level problem into a single-level mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) optimization problem. The effectiveness of the proposed model is demonstrated on a real-test MMG system.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Hua Wang ◽  
Ling Xiao ◽  
Zhang Chen

We study transportation network design with stochastic demands and emergency vehicle (EV) lanes. Different from previous studies, this paper considers two groups of users, auto and EV travelers, whose road access rights are differentiated in the network, and addresses the value of incorporating inverse-direction lanes in network design. We formulate the problem as a bilevel optimization model, where the upper-level model aims to determine the optimal design of EV lanes and the lower-level model uses the user equilibrium principle to forecast the route choice of road users. A simulation-based genetic algorithm is proposed to solve the model. With numerical experiments, we demonstrate the value of deploying inverse-direction EV lanes and the computational efficiency of the proposed algorithm. We reach an intriguing finding that both regular and EV lane users can benefit from building EV lanes.


2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 75-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina Pavlova ◽  
Todor Stoilov ◽  
Krasimira Stoilova

Abstract The increase of the utilization of public rail transportations is searched in directions for redistribution of the passenger travels between rail and bus transportation. The rail transport benefits by redistribution of the transportation flows on paths, predominantly supported by rails. The redistribution of the transportation is formalized by bi-level optimization problem. The upper level optimization estimates the maximal flow, which can be transported through a transportation network, supported both by bus and rail transports. The lower level optimization gives priority to the rail transport by decreasing the costs of flow distribution, using rail transport. This bi-level optimization problem was applied for the case of optimization of the rail exploitation in Bulgaria, defining priorities in transportation of the National transport scheme.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Hongzhi Lin

The population of Beijing has already come to its loading capacity. The China central government plans to build an ideal city named Xiong’an nearby Beijing. The city is expected to work as a carrying hub for noncapital functions of Beijing. The central government does not rush to build before a deliberated urban planning is accomplished. For sustainable development, a difficulty faced by urban planners is that the maximum number of people can be migrated from Beijing to Xiong’an with constraint on level of transport service. This paper developed a specialized bilevel programming model where the upper level is to ensure a predetermined transport service level regarding to population migration, while the lower level is feedback equilibrium between trip generation and traffic assignment. To be more specific, trip is generated by the gravity model, and traffic is assigned by the user equilibrium model. It is well known that the bilevel programming problem is tough and challenging. A try-and-error algorithm is designed for the upper-level model, and a method of successive average (MSA) is developed for the lower-level model. The effectiveness of the model and algorithm is validated by an experimental study using the current transport network between Beijing and Xiong’an. It shows that the methods can be very useful to identify the maximum population migration subject to level of transport service.


SIMULATION ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 95 (9) ◽  
pp. 809-822
Author(s):  
Wensi Wang ◽  
Zhihui Tian ◽  
Yonglei Jiang ◽  
Lan Wu ◽  
Jianqiao Gao

Real-time control strategies are important methods for high-frequency transit to counteract the effects of bus bunching in passenger waiting time. This paper extends previous literature with the development of an optimization model for multiple lines in a corridor capable of executing a dynamic control strategy based on passenger choice behavior with real-time information. The bi-level model integrates “passenger perceptions,”“service selection,” and “control strategy” effectively. The upper level model is a control model with the objective of minimizing the total waiting time of passengers in the system composed of common lines to decide whether a bus arriving at the hub should be held and its holding time. The lower level model is an allocation model with the utilization of a Nested Logit model to study passenger choice behavior. In addition, a heuristic algorithm is introduced to solve the problem. The effectiveness of the model is evaluated with the data of two lines in Dalian city of China. The results show that the control strategy proposed in this paper outperforms the simple control strategy without passenger choice behavior, where the waiting time of passengers, the number of buses that need to hold, and bus holding time are all reduced.


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