A Low‐Car Zone in Multimodal Networks: System‐Level Equilibrium Analysis and Traffic Management Re‐Optimization

ABSTRACT

A low‐car zone (LCZ) restricts private‐car access to a designated area and can reshape route, mode and transfer choices across a multimodal network. This paper investigates how the surrounding transport system can be evaluated and re‐optimized after a single‐zone LCZ is introduced. We formulate an augmented link‐based supernetwork and a multimodal low‐car‐zone network equilibrium model as a variational inequality, avoiding explicit path enumeration. The equilibrium model is embedded in a bi‐level multi‐objective framework in which public transport service frequencies and parking‐pricing measures are re‐optimized while accounting for users' equilibrium responses. The numerical experiments use a stylized regional‐scale multimodal representation of Rotterdam and assess location sensitivity by applying the same intervention separately to alternative urban locations. At a common public transport operating‐cost level, re‐optimization recovers 15.2% of the LCZ‐induced travel‐cost loss for zone 6 and 55.9% for zone 7, while the tested controls provide no recovery for car‐dependent zone 9. Results show that both the direct network impact of an LCZ and the benefit of traffic‐management re‐optimization depend strongly on location. The framework supports system‐level evaluation of an LCZ together with the design of context‐specific accompanying management measures.