Road Transport Systems

• Many studies have revealed that there is a stochastic nature of bottleneck capacities.
• Banks (1991) first suggested that discharge flow at bottlenecks diminishes once queues start forming upstream of the location

A set of mathematical equations (or rules) that tries to describe (i.e. replicate) a physical process (e.g. evolution of traffic congestion over time and space)

• Process analysis and understanding
• Planning (forecasting)
  - introduction of a new mode (multimode)
  - modification/extension of infrastructure
• Operations (control)
  - Design of model-based control strategies
  - Estimation/prediction models
  - Testing the control performance
• Traffic simulation

• Microscopic (mainly for simulation):
  car following + lane changing
   
• Mesoscopic
  vehicle platoons with similar characteristics
   
• Macroscopic
  macroscopic traffic variables (in analogy to fluid mechanics --> LWR-Theoy)
   
• Network (or region) level (MFD)
  macroscopic fundamental diagram (regional accumulations, flows)

Used in microscopic traffic flow models

--> model the movements and interactions of individual vehicles

• Urban traffic lights
• Ramp metering
• Variable speed limits (VSL)
• Variable message signs (VMS)
• Route guidance

• Car pooling
• Congestion pricing
• Mode choice