Modelling Strategic Behaviour in Anticipation of Congestion

Abstract

Cover design: Tekenstudio, Faculteit Bouwkunde Printed by the Technology University of Eindhoven Press Facilities CIP-DATA KONINKLIJKE BIBLIOTHEEK, iii PrefaceIn this thesis, a approach is developed to explore and describe strategic choice behaviour in anticipation of congestion, based on interaction and interdependencies between individuals and between individuals and service providers. It formulates the process of how people would arrive at choices in a congested environment and how information or guidance would become effective towards serving a certain goal. My research interest in this area emerged during my master study. When I first saw the research proposal of this Ph.D. project a few years ago, I knew that I found something that would suit me.The research project was sponsored by SOBU: a collaboration between Tilburg University and Eindhoven University of Technology. The original proposal was developed by Harry Timmermans and Benedict Dellaert when he still was in Tilburg University. Soon after the proposal was funded, he became a professor at Maastricht University and Fred van Raaij joined the team. However, Benedict stayed heavily involved in the project, and hence I was lucky to have such an active scholarly environment. The available travel grant provided me also great opportunities to attend international conferences and meet other researchers. Besides, many people have supported me in conducting the research reported in this thesis. I wish to acknowledge all the help that they given. There are some that I would like to mention specifically for their contributions.iv Professor Harry Timmermans, my first supervisor, has supported me in many ways. With his special style of open guidance he knows how to encourage people to work independently, to develop their own expertise and to pursue their research goals. This and his strategic insights in the world of science have helped me in not only developing the line of my research interest, but also offering me a wonderful opportunity to learn how to conduct research and publish in international journals. Besides, his kind and careful comments on the draft version of my thesis were very important.Many thanks also go to Professor Fred van Raaij, my second supervisor. He succeeded Professor Benedict Dellaert and continued bridging the cooperation between the two universities on this project. He introduced me the educational credit system in Tilburg University that I could use to get sufficient respondents for the data collection. From preparing the recruit announcement, arranging the laboratory, to credit registration afterwards, he has given me invaluable support in two experimental data collections in my research project. Besides, his insightful reviews gave valuable contributions to my work.

Micro-routing using accurate traffic predictions

“…Both driver groups following these patterns and the traffic network can benefit from the micro-routing algorithm if these drivers follow the route recommendation and make their route switching behaviour much more efficient. To better understand all factors in play, a general framework summarising the interaction between strategic decision making of individual travellers and provision of route recommendations to optimise system use is proposed in [31].…”

Effective traffic management based on bounded rationality and indifference bands

“…Much research has been devoted to choice modelling, driver compliance and the influence of information, for reviews see [2][3][4][5][6]. In this paper, we take a fundamentally different approach.…”

Improving the road network performance with dynamic route guidance by considering the indifference band of road users

“…Much research has been devoted to choice modelling, driver compliance and the influence of information, for reviews see (Prato, 2009, Bonsall, 1992, Chorus et al, 2006, Han et al, 2007. We acknowledge that these are relevant aspects of route guidance.…”