A passenger traffic assignment model with capacity constraints for transit networks

A model is provided to capture capacity phenomena in passenger traffic assignment to a transit network. These pertain to the interaction of passenger traffic and vehicle traffic: vehicle seat capacity drives the internal comfort, vehicle total capacity determines internal comfort and also platform waiting, passenger flows at vehicle egress and access interplay with dwell time, dwell time drives track occupancy and in turn the period frequency of any service that passes the station along the line of operations, and then service frequency influences service capacity and platform waiting. These phenomena are dealt with by line of operations on the basis of a set of local models yielding specific flows or costs. The topological order of the line is used to devise two line models of, respectively, flow loading and cost setting, each of which calls its local sub-models. The pair of line algorithms amounts to a complex cost-flow relationship at the level of the line. The line model is used as a submodel in passenger assignment to network hyperpaths, where line pairs of access-egress stations constitute leg links. The properties of static traffic equilibrium for both vehicles and passengers are established.