MobilityCoins - an integrated multimodal Wardropian model for policy analysis

Abstract

MobilityCoins are a tradable mobility credit (TMC) scheme, where all modes can have link-specific and origin-and-destination-specific charges and incentives. These schemes are alternatives to congestion pricing and fuel excise taxes. Their design as a cap-and-trade scheme means that a fixed market volume is defined based on a to-be-regulated quantity. MobilityCoins are distributed to all travelers, who use them to pay for mobility or sell them on a market. However, the question of how to select policy parameters of such schemes in real-world contexts remains unanswered. In this paper, we develop a multimodal Wardropian transport model with integrated MobilityCoins scheme for transport policy analysis. Travelers have the choice between cars, public transport, and bicycles, where only cars experiences congestion effects. Using a simple model, we illustrate how a MobilityCoins scheme impacts transport outcomes under different system designs, e.g., declining overall market volume of MobilityCoins.