Developing an urban congestion pricing model by considering sustainability improvement and using a multi-objective optimization approach

This paper introduces a Travel Demand Management (TDM) model in order to decrease the transportation externalities by affecting on passengers’travel choices. Thus, a bi-objective bi-modal optimization model for road pricing is developed aiming to enhance environmental and social sustainability by considering to minimize the air pollution and maximize the social welfare as its objectives. This model determines optimal prices (bus fare and car toll) and optimal bus frequency simultaneously in an integrated model. The model is based on discrete choice theory and consideres the modes’ utility functions in its formulation. The proposed model is solved by two meta-heuristic methods (Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm-II (NSGA-II), Multi-Objectives Harmony Search (MOHS)) and the numerical results of a case study in Tehran are presented. The main managerial insights resulted from this case study is that its results support the idea of “free public transportation” or subsidizing the public transport as an effective way to decrease the transport related air pollution