1977/08/01 by Carlos F. Daganzo, Yosef Sheffi · 8 citations
Computer Science · Engineering · Social Sciences · #Network Traffic and Congestion Control #Transportation Planning and Optimization #Transportation and Mobility Innovations
paper · doi:10.1287/trsc.11.3.253
crossref issued 1977/08/01 · crossref published 1977/08/01 · crossref published-print 1977/08/01 · openalex publication_date 1977/08/01 · crossref created 2008/10/31 · crossref deposited 2023/04/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25 · crossref indexed 2026/07/31
This paper contains a quantitative evaluation of probabilistic traffic assignment models and proposes an alternate formulation. First, the concept of stochastic-user-equilibration (S-U-E) is formalized as an extension of Wardrop's user-equilibration criterion. Then, the stochastic-network-loading (S-N-L) problem (a special case of S-U-E for networks with constant link costs) is analyzed in detail and an expression for the probability of route choice which is based on two general postulates of user behavior is derived. The paper also discusses the weaknesses of existing S-N-L techniques with special attention paid to Dial's multipath method and compares them to the suggested approach. The proposed model seems reasonable and does not exhibit the inherent weaknesses of the logit model when applied to sets of routes which overlap heavily. The discussion is supported by several numerical examples on small contrived networks. The paper concludes with the discussion of two techniques that can be used to approximate the link flows resulting from the proposed model in large networks.