Abstract
This paper extends the theory of “tradable bottleneck permits” (TBP), which was proposed in Akmatsu et al.(2006), to cases where the TBP system is introduced for transportaion networks with general topology. We first explore the economic properties of the TBP system in general networks with a single OD pair. We then reveal that the equilibrium dynamic flow pattern under the TBP system achieves the most efficient use of network capacity. We further show that this result also holds for more general situations: (1) networks with many-to-many OD pairs, (2) users with elastic trip demands, (3) heterogeneous users with different schedule cost functions. Finally, some theoretical comparisons between the TBP system and congestion pricing schemes are given.
