User Equilibrium in a Bottleneck under Multipeak Distribution of Preferred Arrival Time

Abstract

20 pages; International audience; This paper studies the pattern of departure times at a single bottleneck, under general heterogeneous preferred arrival times. It delivers three main outputs. Firstly, the existence of equilibrium is proven without the classical "S-shape" assumption on the distribution of preferred arrival time i.e. that demand, represented by the flow rate of preferred arrival times, may only exceed bottleneck capacity on one peak interval. Secondly, a generic algorithm is given to solve the departure time choice equilibrium problem. Lastly, the graphical approach that pervades the algorithm provides insight in the structure of the queued periods, especially so by characterizing the critical instants at which the entry flow switches from a loading rate (over capacity) to an unloading one (under capacity) and vice versa. Numerical illustration is given.