Bottleneck Congestion and Modal Split

Abstract This paper analyzes commuting congestion when there is mass transit parallel to a road with a bottleneck between a residential area and a workplace. We investigate the optimality and efficiency of several railroad fare and road toll regimes and provide practical rules for attaining the social optimum. A welfare comparison is also made between these regimes, and it is shown that the road tolls are effective especially in the case of heavy road congestion.