A Departure Time Choice for Morning Commute Considering Train Capacity of a Rail Transit Line

Abstract

Every commuter utilizing urban rail transit decides the departure time from home to a station according to individual judgment for the biggest possibility to board a train as soon as possible after the arrival. Therefore, the departure time choice behavior of the commuters is complicated especially when the transport capacity of this transit line cannot meet the travel demands of its users in rush hour. This research first develops a travel cost function mainly considering the travel time to rationally describe the volume distribution of the commuters arriving at a station at different time periods. Furthermore, an optimization model is accordingly proposed to rationalize the arrival distribution of the commuters on the basis of the amount of the arrived commuters who are able to board a train from the perspective of the systematic operation of a rail transit line for the minimal total travel cost of all the commuters along this line. It is found that the total travel cost can be reduced by 19.0% at most through the arrival distribution rationalization with the optimization model.