Efficiency versus fairness in network-wide ramp metering

The advanced motorway optimal control (AMOC) strategy for optimal network-wide ramp metering is applied to the ring-road of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, with the aim of investigating some important and interesting problems arising in ubiquitous ramp metering. A number of adequately chosen scenarios along with a thorough analysis, interpretation, and suitable visualisation of the obtained results provides a basis for the better understanding of some complex interrelationships of partially conflicting performance criteria. More precisely, the strategy´s efficiency and fairness properties as well as their trade-off are studied and their partially competitive behaviour is discussed. This trade-off is implicitly addressed by the AMOC strategy through consideration of the available ramp storage space, something which may be used as a tool to establish a desired policy of the system´s efficiency versus fairness