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

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.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 strategic behaviour, network development strategies, policy trajectories and 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.

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).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 operationalise 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, and the interactions between all of those system components and phenomena.The proposed program will result in a series of theoretical and methodological breakthroughs in the field of transport modelling and, methodological and empirical contributions in the fields of travel behaviour, environmental and sustainability policy, and network and market.