Design of a multi-modal transportation system to support the urban agglomeration process

Abstract

Improvements to urban transportation systems are designed to reduce travel times, but can also facilitate additional productivity gains through agglomeration. These systems, however, are complex, making it difficult to identify and quantify the mechanisms that improve economic productivity. In this paper we propose a quantitative urban spatial equilibrium model with simple urban structure that incorporates endogenous agglomeration and multi-modal congestion to study the transportation policy effects of investment and pricing on economic productivity. The model features a novel traffic flow modelling tool called the multi-modal macroscopic fundamental diagram (MFD). This modelling tool allows us to account for effects of network topology and multi-modal traffic operations in the macroscopic modelling of congestion. We use the model to show how policy decisions regarding investment in the public transport system and the pricing of two modes of transport (cars and buses) influence economic sorting and thus urban productivity in the greater Zürich metropolitan area.