Optimal official work start times in activity-based bottleneck models with staggered work hours

ABSTRACT This paper aims to optimize official work start times (OWSTs) in activity-based bottleneck models with staggered work hours (SWH). In the models, commuters’ departure time choice from home to work is assumed to follow user equilibrium principle in terms of total activity utility. An activity-based bottleneck model with a single OWST is firstly considered. According to the equilibrium flow pattern, the optimal single OWST is analytically derived with maximized total system activity utility (TSAU). Then, we find that there exist four possible equilibrium traffic flow patterns for the bottleneck model with double OWSTs. The optimal equilibrium traffic flow pattern and the optimal OWSTs with maximal TSAU are also derived. Besides, the optimal SWH scheme for the bottleneck model with double OWSTs is extended to the situation of the bottleneck model with multiple OWSTs. Finally, numerical examples are developed to illustrate the properties of the proposed models.

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