Reservation Scheme for Congestion Management

Design and operational optimization of reservation schemes to manage morning-commute congestion, accounting for travelers' noncompliance behavior.

Reservation scheme for congestion management during morning commute: Considering noncompliance

Sun, Qi-Hang and Guo, Ren-Yong, Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, 2026.

Research problem

This study investigates the design of reservation schemes for morning-commute congestion management when commuters may not comply with their reserved time intervals.

Approach

The scheme divides the morning peak into shoulder-central-shoulder intervals. We analyze departure time equilibrium within each interval, rescheduling equilibrium across intervals, and long-term equilibrium across days.

Timeline with an early shoulder interval, a central interval, and a late shoulder interval.
Shoulder-central-shoulder division of the morning peak.
Three linked decision levels: departure time choice within intervals, alternative interval choice across intervals, and quota usage choice across days.
Departure time, rescheduling, and long-term equilibria at three decision levels.

Findings

We characterize the equilibrium under noncompliance and propose scheme designs that restore efficiency.

Parameter map with regions for Types I, IIa, IIb, IIIa, and IIIb and their interval-cost rankings.
Rescheduling equilibrium types across the illustrated parameter settings.
Contour plot of TC_n against t_s and p_w, with the optimal t_s curve and the central-peak proportion.
Cost contours and the optimal reservation-period start time.

Resources