published journal article
Tour-based truck demand modeling with entropy maximization using GPS data
Journal of Advanced Transportation
Publication Date
December 1, 2019
Area of Expertise: Unspecified
white paper
California and USA Pricing Strategy Experiences
Publication Date
August 26, 2026
Author(s)
Emma Huang, Erin Barry, Joshua Schank, Egon Terplan
Abstract
This white paper examines the successes and failures of road pricing strategies in California and the United States, with implications for congestion pricing across California. It evaluates nine case studies spanning feasibility studies, operational HOT lane programs, and the country’s first large-scale cordon pricing zone. The research team addresses the conditions that favor pricing, barriers, outcomes, and how costs and benefits are distributed using case studies in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, San Mateo County, Alameda County, New York City, and Northern Virginia. The research finds that successful pricing programs have sustained political champions, state enabling legislation, and benefits visible to identifiable users. Revenue allocation, not toll structure, is the primary determinant of whether pricing is regressive or progressive. No pricing program reviewed was repealed after implementation. The research team concludes that advancing road pricing in California will require clear state leadership and supportive coalitions.
conference paper
Free Transit for Students: Users and Boarding Characteristics of LA Metro's GoPass Program
Proceedings, 104th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board
Publication Date
January 1, 2025
Author(s)
Farzana Khatun, Saphores， Jean-Daniel
Abstract
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority created in October 2021 the largest free transit pass pilot program to-date. Known as GoPass, it serves K-14 students in Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the United States. GoPass has three main goals: regain ridership lost during COVID-19, provide reliable transportation to students, and explore seamless payment options. We examined the characteristics of the students who enrolled in GoPass and compared them to census data to assess opportunities for additional growth. To understand GoPass usage, we estimated a generalized spatial regression model that explains boardings aggregated by census tract because detailed usage data is unavailable. Our explanatory variables include socioeconomic variables, crime, the social vulnerability index, and built environment characteristics. Our results confirm the presence of strong spatial effects. Average direct impacts show that census tracts with more African Americans and Asians, more transit stops, mixed land use, and more participating schools accessible within 30 minutes by transit have more GoPass boardings. Conversely, GoPass boardings decrease with more property crime, more multi-family & non-residential units, and a higher population density. A better understanding of the characteristics of GoPass users and of GoPass usage is important for LA Metro to improve this program, and more generally for transit agencies interested in creating similar programs.
Suggested Citation
Farzana Khatun and Saphores, Jean-Daniel (2025) “Free Transit for Students: Users and Boarding Characteristics of LA Metro's GoPass Program”, in Proceedings, 104th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board. Washington, D.C.. conference paper
Peer-to-Peer Residential Charger Sharing: Exploring Public Perceptions in California
104th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board
Publication Date
January 1, 2025
Author(s)
Suggested Citation
Amin Akbari and Matthew Dean (2025) “Peer-to-Peer Residential Charger Sharing: Exploring Public Perceptions in California”, in 104th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board. Washington D.C.. conference paper
Routing and scheduling problem of container trucks with selective empty container pickup in a shared resource environment
Proceedings of the 97th annual meeting of the transportation research board
Publication Date
January 1, 2018
Author(s)
Abstract
This paper studies a routing and scheduling problem of container trucks, where a shared resource environment is considered to reduce inherent operational inefficiencies associated with drayage container movements. To enable a trucking company to operate its fleet under a such environment, two operational strategies â?? street turning and decoupling operations â?? together with temporal precedence constraints â?? in addition to the time constraints that are typically included in the vehicle routing problem with time windows (VRPTW) â?? were adopted. In addition, empty containers can be shared across the carriers participating in the coalition. Thus, the problem is formulated as a variant of VRP with profit from a carrier perspective. Without loss of generality, it is assumed that only empty container pickup tasks that are non-revenue are able to be exchanged between the private carrier and outside carriers, through a web-based information exchange system. For this collaborative problem, a pre-selection algorithm that provides the best potential candidate set of tasks into the routing and scheduling problem and general variable neighborhood search (GVNS) algorithm are proposed and evaluated. A series of numerical experiments show that the proposed truck operational approach can reduce the total operation cost, even though the total cost includes the task exchange cost.
Suggested Citation
Kyungsoo Jeong and Stephen G. Ritchie (2018) “Routing and scheduling problem of container trucks with selective empty container pickup in a shared resource environment”, in Proceedings of the 97th annual meeting of the transportation research board, p. 7p. published journal article
Effects of land use characteristics on residence and employment location and travel behavior of urban adult workers
Transportation Research Record
Publication Date
January 1, 2006
Author(s)
João de Abreu e Silva, Thomas Golob, Konstadinos Goulias
Abstract
The relationships between socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, land use characteristics around the residence and work locations, and a variety of travel behavior indicators are examined by using a structural equations model. This simultaneous equations system allows one to model the effects of land use characteristics on travel behavior while controlling for self-selection bias: certain types of persons choose to live and work in areas that suit their lifestyles and resources. In the model, travel behavior choices are multidimensional; total time away from home, trips and trip distances by three types of modes, car ownership, and possession of a transit pass are included. Land use is captured in geographic information systemâ??based measures of land use and transport supply variables centered on both home and work locations. These measures are reduced to eight land use factors. The analysis provides strong evidence in favor of using land use and urban form designs and planning both around residential neighborhoods and workplace areas. Results provide quantitative evidence of the extent to which workers living in denser, central, compact, and mixed zones make more intense use of transit and nonmotorized modes and tend to have lower car ownership levels. Workers in areas well served by freeways tend to make more intense use of their cars, although this does not inhibit use of transit. The results show that land use measures differ in their ability to explain different travel demands even when controlling for socioeconomic and demographic effects.
Suggested Citation
João de Abreu e Silva, Thomas F. Golob and Konstadinos G. Goulias (2006) “Effects of land use characteristics on residence and employment location and travel behavior of urban adult workers”, Transportation Research Record, 1977(1), pp. 121–131. Available at: 10.1177/0361198106197700115. published journal article
LTE receiver design and multipath analysis for navigation in urban environments
NAVIGATION
Publication Date
December 1, 2018
Author(s)
Kimia Shamaei, Zaher Kassas
Suggested Citation
Kimia Shamaei and Zaher M. Kassas (2018) “LTE receiver design and multipath analysis for navigation in urban environments”, NAVIGATION, 65(4), pp. 655–675. Available at: 10.1002/navi.272. published journal article
Long haul freight network design using shipper–carrier freight flow prediction: A California network improvement case study
Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review
Publication Date
July 1, 2010
Author(s)
Suggested Citation
Pruttipong Apivatanagul and Amelia C. Regan (2010) “Long haul freight network design using shipper–carrier freight flow prediction: A California network improvement case study”, Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 46(4), pp. 507–519. Available at: 10.1016/j.tre.2009.04.004. published journal article
Multi-stage charging and discharging of electric vehicle fleets
Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment
Publication Date
May 1, 2023
Author(s)
Matthew Dean, Felipe De Souza, Krishna Murthy Gurumurthy, Kara Kockelman
Abstract
Fleets of electric vehicles will likely shift electricity demand, and the effect of upstream charging emissions will come from generation sources that are dispatched in response. This study proposes a multi-stage charging and discharging problem to translate low-cost energy transactions into vehicle dispatch decisions. A day-ahead charging optimization problem minimizes electricity purchases and marginal emissions damages, with energy transactions becoming targets in an optimization-based dispatch strategy for an on-demand shared autonomous electric vehicle (SAEV) fleet. The framework was tested for Austin, Texas, using an agent-based simulator. Fleets can schedule charging to lower daily power costs (averaging 15.5% or $0.79/day/SAEV) while reducing health damages from generation-related pollution (2.8% or $0.43/day/SAEV). Fleet managers can increase profits ($8 per SAEV per day) by adopting a multi-stage charging and discharging strategy that can serve more passengers per day than price-agnostic dispatch strategies.
Suggested Citation
Matthew D. Dean, Felipe Augusto de Souza, Krishna Murthy Gurumurthy and Kara M. Kockelman (2023) “Multi-stage charging and discharging of electric vehicle fleets”, Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 118, p. 103691. Available at: 10.1016/j.trd.2023.103691. published journal article
Airport congestion when carriers have market power
American Economic Review
Publication Date
November 1, 2002
Author(s)
Abstract
This paper analyzes airport congestion when carriers are nonatomistic, showing how the results of the road-pricing literature are modified when the economic agents causing congestion have market power. The analysis shows that when an airport is dominated by a monopolist, congestion is fully internalized, yielding no role for congestion pricing under monopoly conditions. Under a Cournot oligopoly, however, carriers are shown to internalize only the congestion they impose on themselves. A toll that captures the uninternalized portion of congestion may then improve the allocation of traffic. The analysis is supported by some rudimentary empirical evidence.