Abstract:In this research project, we develop a general equilibrium model to capture the complex interactions between solo-driving, rideshare and e-hailing that allows travelers to switch between different transportation modes in a coupled morning-evening commute. The model is formulated as a mixed complementarity problem. The existence of an equilibrium solution and the properties of the solution are investigated. The proposed model is then validated with a small network and the renowned Sioux Falls network. The results show that our model captures the mode switches between morning and evening that are missed by decoupled morning and evening commute models. In particular, our numerical examples show that modeling morning and evening commutes separately tends to overestimate the number of drivers and total vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in the network when accounting for travelers’ capabilities for mode switching. With a coupled model, transportation planners can better understand appropriate incentives to increase vehicle occupancy and reduce VMT, thereby achieving some social benefits associated with morning and evening commutes.

Key words: E-hailing, carpooling, ridesharing, vehicle miles traveled