Framework for a lottery-based incentive scheme and its influence on commuting behaviors : an MIT case study

Abstract

Congestion pricing has been widely regarded as the most effective technique used to manage travel demand. Since congestion pricing is about charging road users to internalize the external cost induced by their travels, there have been concerns about the social equity issues it raises and the political opposition it often faces. This thesis focuses on another travel demand management strategy that is contrary to congestion pricing, a reward-based scheme which provides positive incentives to commuters when they change their travel behavior. More specifically, commuters could be rewarded credits when they travel to work via walking, bicycling, taking public transit or carpooling instead of driving alone. The credits accrued can either be used to exchange for a deterministic cash prize, or a chance to enter a grand lottery draw. This thesis reviews the research literature to explain the influence of lottery schemes on behaviors and modifies a theoretical model to suggest how equilibrium mode choices can be influenced by lotteries. A general framework to design such a lottery scheme is proposed and, based on the framework, several alternatives to implement a lottery-based incentive scheme to manage commuter parking demand at MIT are developed and evaluated.