ANALYSIS OF CONGESTION PRICING IN A SIGHTSEEING AREA WITH ACTIVITY-BASED TRAVEL CHOICE MODELING

Abstract

In recent years, over-tourism has been a global problem due to the increasing number of tourists. Congestion pricing is attracting attention as a solution to over-tourism. However, it is difficult to predict the effects of pricing in a sightseeing area by referring to past cases because most cases were conducted in city centers where commuter traffic is dominant. In this study, the activity-based model for tourist travel behavior is developed by extending the framework of a mixed integer linear programming problem. Then, we predict the change of transportation demand in a sightseeing area by considering the dynamic user equilibrium of tourists ’schedules to take into account the change in travel time due to dynamic congestion. The results of the analysis in Kamakura city show that congestion pricing would prompt some private car users to shifting toward public transportation, thereby network congestion would be reduced. By contrast, we find that the increase in the amount charged caused decrease in tourist utility.