Study on variable pricing for toll collection of cargo vehicles on freeways

Based on past traffic data of China, more than 25% of traffic is cargo vehicles with the travel speed much slower than passenger cars and buses do. Thus, the capacity during rush hours is significantly reduced and many traffic crashes happen during rush hours, mainly due to the high traffic volume of cargo vehicles and their much slower speed. The main objectives of the paper are to evaluate benefits of variable pricing for cargo vehicle toll collection on freeways, to develop variable pricing models, and to design variable pricing schemes under Jiangsu environmental conditions. Field questionnaire surveys were performed to obtain cargo vehicle drivers´ behavior data regarding their departure choices if different variable pricing schemes would be implemented. Based on the survey data, variable pricing models with logit model formats were developed. By using the models, analysis of variable pricing is then carried out to study possibility of departure time change of cargo vehicle drivers from rush hours to non-rush hours. Finally, some meaningful suggestions are drawn, based upon the analysis.