Urban dynamic congestion pricing: an overview and emerging research needs

Congestion pricing is perceived as an economic instrument for transportation demand management in alleviating urban traffic congestion, and has received increasing attention both academically and practically in recent years. Compared with the conventional static congestion pricing models, dynamic congestion pricing (DCP) models are more rational and effective due to the inherent uncertainty, randomness and time-varying properties, of transportation systems. The theory, and methods, used in DCP are reviewed. According to the timescale distribution, DCP models can be classified into two major categories: within-day models and day-to-day models. Dynamic traffic assignment (DTA), which influences road users’ route choice and departure time behaviours, is the basis of DCP, thus this paper also reviews relevant studies on DTA problem. Three congestion pricing schemes including zonal-based, cordon-based and distance-based schemes are summarized. Finally, some implementation issues and future research directions are summarized.