Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2008, Volume 4974/2008, 669-678, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-540-78761-7_73

Genetic Computation of Road Network Design and Pricing Stackelberg Games with Multi-class Users

Loukas Dimitriou, Theodore Tsekeris and Antony Stathopoulos

View Related Documents

Abstract

This paper deals with the problems of optimal capacity and pricing decisions in private road networks. These problems are described as a class of design and pricing Stackelberg games and formulated as nonconvex, bilevel nonlinear programs. Such games capture interactions among the decisions of system designer/operator, government regulations and reactions of multi-class users on optimal toll-capacity combinations. The present class of games applies to a realistic urban highway with untolled alternative arterial links. In contrast with the mostly used continuous representations, the highway capacity is more intuitively expressed as a discrete variable, which further complicates the solution procedure. Hence, an evolutionary computing approach is employed to provide a stochastic global search of the optimal toll and capacity choices. The results offer valuable insights into how investment and pricing strategies can be deployed in regulated private road networks.

Keywords  Road Pricing - Equilibrium Network Design - Regulated Private Highways - Stackelberg Games - Genetic Algorithms

Fulltext Preview

Image of the first page of the fulltext document