Behavior, Network, Market and Policy Dynamics in Multi-Modal, Multi-Layer and Multi-Class Air and Rail Transport Systems

Introduction

The long-distance transport market is currently experiencing rapid changes, and innovative services and policies are fundamentally reshaping how we travel. The discrepancy between the relevance of long-distance travel for emission reduction policy goals and the lack of related knowledge to support the design, planning, and policy making of long-distance transport systems hinders the development of successful pathways.

Need for New Paradigms

In order to understand, forecast, devise policies, and evaluate developments related to long-distance travel, there is an urgent need for new paradigms which consider:

1. Strategic behaviour
2. Network development strategies
3. Policy trajectories
4. Co-evolution of markets where revenue management and coopetition are prevalent

This requires developing comprehensive and cutting-edge methods for designing and assessing policy interventions by integrating behavioural, network development, and market dynamics, for which the PI is well-positioned.

Research Program Overview

This research program develops and tests theories and models of transport systems in the uncharted domain of long-distance transport markets with Multi-layer, Multi-modal and Multi-class Air and Rail Systems (3MARS).

Objectives of 3MARS

3MARS will:

• Unravel crucial behavioural aspects
• Develop novel models for the assignment of multi-class flows for a multi-layer multi-modal network
• Conceptualize and operationalize the market relations and dynamics between supply and demand and amongst service providers and the evolution thereof
• Develop network design and revenue management techniques in competition-collaboration settings
• Design and assess supply- and demand-side policy interventions
• Examine the interactions between all of those system components and phenomena

Expected Outcomes

The proposed program will result in a series of theoretical and methodological breakthroughs in the field of transport modelling, as well as methodological and empirical contributions in the fields of travel behaviour, environmental and sustainability policy, and network and market dynamics.