The dynamics of urban traffic congestion and the price of parking

Mogens Fosgerau (1) , André de Palma (2)

1 DTU - Danmarks Tekniske Universitet = Technical University of Denmark
2 ENS Cachan - École normale supérieure - Cachan

We consider commuting in a congested urban area. While an efficient time-varying toll may eliminate queuing, a toll may not be politically feasible. We study the benefit of a substitute: a parking fee at the workplace. An optimal time-varying parking fee is charged at zero rate when there is queuing and eliminates queuing when the rate is non-zero. Within certain limits, inability to charge some drivers for parking does not reduce the potential welfare gain. Drivers who cannot be charged travel when there is queuing. In some cases, interaction between morning and evening commutes can be exploited to remove queuing completely.

Mots clés: parking; dynamic; congestion; urban; traffic

Domaines: Economies et finances

Mogens Fosgerau, André de Palma. The dynamics of urban traffic congestion and the price of parking. 2012. ⟨hal-00742104⟩