Analytical approaches to evaluating sustainable transportation strategies

Abstract

Sustainable transportation strategies and policies not only generate an efficient and equitable transportation system but also balance other economic, social and environmental objectives. The objective of this thesis is to carry out a comprehensive equilibrium analysis of most widely applied transportation polices and strategies from the viewpoint of sustainability, mainly concentrating on their impact on vehicular emissions. This study adopts the two best known and most widely used macroscopic emission estimation models belonging to the category of average-speed models. These are Mobile Source Emissions Factor Model or MOBILE and TRANSYT-7F model. The evaluated transportation strategies and policies include road pricing, road network design, traveller information provision services, and speed limit control. The traffic assignment is simulated by employing different traffic assignment techniques, which consist of deterministic user equilibrium (DUE), stochastic user equilibrium (SUE), system optimum (SO), and system equity (SE). The impact of those strategies on travellers’ route choice behaviour under different equilibriums is studied. The consequent impact on vehicular emissions is analysed