Optimal Pricing Strategy of Traffic Information under Multi-Objective Route Guidance

Since the development of information technology, in transportation network, it is practical to provide real-time traffic information to travelers. The study of pricing strategy of traffic information has become a hotspot in transportation science field. However, most of these studies concentrate on the two aspects below: one is the study on pricing strategy under the single-objective route guidance based on travel time; the other is the study on market penetration under multi-objective route guidance. But less attention is paid on the study of pricing strategy under multi-objective route guidance. To solve this problem, travel disutility function is modeled on the basis of a weighting travel time and travel cost, and the difference of pricing strategy is compared under the single-objective and multi-objective route guidance on the condition of analyzing the plus profits of information users, information providers and the traffic manager. Finally, the traffic information price can be given under multi-objective route guidance. Numerical result shows that the single-objective route guidance, compared to the multi -objective route guidance, will change the feasible region of traffic information pricing, finally, the respective interests of the profits of information users, information providers and the traffic manager who as the decision-making host separately are considered, ultimate price of the traffic information was 1.3 yuan, 2.6 yuan and 1.8 yuan. The results indicate that established mixed-equilibrium model can completely and effectively pricing traffic information under multi-objective route guidance.