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Paper

Choosing My Own Path: Revealing Differences in Route Choice Preferences Across Long-Haul, Medium-Haul, and Short-Haul Trucking

Publication Date: 2023
Summary:

The rapid growth in e-commerce activities and the constant specialization of industries have aroused an unparalleled demand for trucking in urban areas, leading to growing concern over its interference to the transportation system. Understanding truck route choice preferences across long-haul, medium-haul, and short-haul trips can offer insights for designing the truck route network tailored to specific freight demand types, so as to effectively reduce their interference to passenger transportation. However, limited research has been conducted to explore the heterogeneity or similarity of route choice preferences across those freight demand types. This study utilizes the Path Size Logit Model to explore the characteristics of preferred route across long-haul, medium-haul, and short-haul trips, and reveal the underlying route choice mechanism behind enormous trucking activities. By employing truck GPS data from China, we find that (1) although the characteristics of preferred routes vary across long-haul, medium-haul, and short-haul trips, those trips collectively reflect full consideration of travel efficiency, safety, and reliability; (2) all these freight demand types incline to the routes with shortest travel distances instead of those with shortest travel time, while short-haul trips exhibit the highest sensitivity to travel distance; (3) drivers in both long-haul and medium-haul trips favor routes that combine motorways and sub-arterial roads, while long-haul trips present higher sensitivity; (4) drivers in short-haul trips show preferences for routes featuring fewer turns, and sub-arterial roads given last-mile delivery demand. Finally, we propose suggestions for designing urban truck route network to accommodate diverse freight demand in high-density urban areas with limited road resources.

Authors: Dr. Anne Goodchild, Zhengtao Qin, Ruixu Pan, Chengcheng Yu, Tong Xiao, Chao Yang, Quan Yuan (Tongji University)
Recommended Citation:
Qin, Zhengtao and Pan, Ruixu and Yu, Chengcheng and Xiao, Tong and Yang, Chao and Goodchild, Anne and Yuan, Quan, Choosing My Own Path: Revealing Differences in Route Choice Preferences Across Long-Haul, Medium-Haul, and Short-Haul Trucking. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4853521
Paper

GPS Data Analysis of the Impact of Tolling on Truck Speed and Routing: A Case Study in Seattle, WA

 
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Publication: Journal of the Transportation Research Board
Volume: 2411:01:00
Pages: 112-119
Publication Date: 2014
Summary:

Roadway tolls are designed to raise revenue to fund transportation investments and manage travel demand and as such may affect transportation system performance and route choice. Yet, limited research has quantified the impact of tolling on truck speed and route choice because of the lack of truck-specific movement data. Most existing tolling impact studies rely on surveys in which drivers are given several alternative routes and their performance characteristics and asked to estimate route choices. The limitations of such an approach are that the results may not reflect actual truck route choices and the surveys are costly to collect. The research described in this paper used truck GPS data to observe empirical responses to tolling, following the implementation of a toll on the State Route 520 (SR-520) bridge in Seattle, Washington. Truck GPS data were used to evaluate route choice and travel speed along SR-520 and the alternate toll-free Route I-90. It was found that truck travel speed on SR-520 improved after tolling, although travel speed on the alternative toll-free Route I-90 decreased during the peak period. A set of logit models was developed to determine the influential factors in truck routing. The results indicated that travel time, travel time reliability, and toll rate were all influential factors during peak and off-peak periods. The values of truck travel time during various time periods were estimated, and it was found that the values varied with the definition of peak and off-peak periods.

Authors: Dr. Anne Goodchild, Zun Wang
Recommended Citation:
Wang, Zun, and Anne V. Goodchild. “GPS Data Analysis of the Impact of Tolling on Truck Speed and Routing.” Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, vol. 2411, no. 1, 2014, pp. 112–119., doi:10.3141/2411-14.