Effect of Pre-Trip Information in a Traffic Network with Stochastic Travel Conditions: Role of Risk Attitude

Empirical studies have suggested that travelers’ risk attitudes affect their choice behavior when travel conditions are stochastic. By considering the travelers’ risk attitudes, we extend the classical two-route model, in which road capacities vary due to such shocks as bad weather, accidents, and s...

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Main Authors: Yun Yu, Shiteng Zheng, Yuankai Li, Huaqing Liu, Jianan Cao
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-05-01
Series:Systems
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2079-8954/13/6/407
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author Yun Yu
Shiteng Zheng
Yuankai Li
Huaqing Liu
Jianan Cao
author_facet Yun Yu
Shiteng Zheng
Yuankai Li
Huaqing Liu
Jianan Cao
author_sort Yun Yu
collection DOAJ
description Empirical studies have suggested that travelers’ risk attitudes affect their choice behavior when travel conditions are stochastic. By considering the travelers’ risk attitudes, we extend the classical two-route model, in which road capacities vary due to such shocks as bad weather, accidents, and special events. Two information regimes have been investigated. In the zero-information regime, we postulate that travelers acquire the variability in route travel time based on past experiences and choose the route to minimize the travel time budget. In the full-information regime, travelers have pre-trip information of the road capacities and thus choose the route to minimize the travel time. User equilibrium states of the two regimes have been analyzed, based on the canonical BPR travel time function with power coefficient <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>p</mi></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>. In the special case <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>p</mi><mo>=</mo><mn>1</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>, the closed form solutions have been derived. Three cases and eleven subcases have been classified concerning the dependence of expected total travel times on the risk attitude in the zero-information regime. In the general condition <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>p</mi><mo>></mo><mn>0</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>, although we are not able to derive the closed form solutions, we proved that the results are qualitatively unchanged. We have studied the benefit gains/losses by shifting from the zero-information to the full-information regime. The circumstance under which pre-trip information is beneficial has been identified. A numerical analysis is conducted to further illustrate the theoretical findings.
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spelling doaj-art-25b88f69ddc74c95992cc8c8f3904c742025-08-20T02:21:49ZengMDPI AGSystems2079-89542025-05-0113640710.3390/systems13060407Effect of Pre-Trip Information in a Traffic Network with Stochastic Travel Conditions: Role of Risk AttitudeYun Yu0Shiteng Zheng1Yuankai Li2Huaqing Liu3Jianan Cao4Beijing Transport Institute, Fengtai District, Beijing 100071, ChinaSchool of Systems Science, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, ChinaBeijing Transport Institute, Fengtai District, Beijing 100071, ChinaSchool of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Ningbo University of Technology, Ningbo 315211, ChinaBeijing Transport Institute, Fengtai District, Beijing 100071, ChinaEmpirical studies have suggested that travelers’ risk attitudes affect their choice behavior when travel conditions are stochastic. By considering the travelers’ risk attitudes, we extend the classical two-route model, in which road capacities vary due to such shocks as bad weather, accidents, and special events. Two information regimes have been investigated. In the zero-information regime, we postulate that travelers acquire the variability in route travel time based on past experiences and choose the route to minimize the travel time budget. In the full-information regime, travelers have pre-trip information of the road capacities and thus choose the route to minimize the travel time. User equilibrium states of the two regimes have been analyzed, based on the canonical BPR travel time function with power coefficient <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>p</mi></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>. In the special case <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>p</mi><mo>=</mo><mn>1</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>, the closed form solutions have been derived. Three cases and eleven subcases have been classified concerning the dependence of expected total travel times on the risk attitude in the zero-information regime. In the general condition <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>p</mi><mo>></mo><mn>0</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>, although we are not able to derive the closed form solutions, we proved that the results are qualitatively unchanged. We have studied the benefit gains/losses by shifting from the zero-information to the full-information regime. The circumstance under which pre-trip information is beneficial has been identified. A numerical analysis is conducted to further illustrate the theoretical findings.https://www.mdpi.com/2079-8954/13/6/407route choicerisk attitudepre-trip informationstochastic travel condition
spellingShingle Yun Yu
Shiteng Zheng
Yuankai Li
Huaqing Liu
Jianan Cao
Effect of Pre-Trip Information in a Traffic Network with Stochastic Travel Conditions: Role of Risk Attitude
Systems
route choice
risk attitude
pre-trip information
stochastic travel condition
title Effect of Pre-Trip Information in a Traffic Network with Stochastic Travel Conditions: Role of Risk Attitude
title_full Effect of Pre-Trip Information in a Traffic Network with Stochastic Travel Conditions: Role of Risk Attitude
title_fullStr Effect of Pre-Trip Information in a Traffic Network with Stochastic Travel Conditions: Role of Risk Attitude
title_full_unstemmed Effect of Pre-Trip Information in a Traffic Network with Stochastic Travel Conditions: Role of Risk Attitude
title_short Effect of Pre-Trip Information in a Traffic Network with Stochastic Travel Conditions: Role of Risk Attitude
title_sort effect of pre trip information in a traffic network with stochastic travel conditions role of risk attitude
topic route choice
risk attitude
pre-trip information
stochastic travel condition
url https://www.mdpi.com/2079-8954/13/6/407
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