Fangni Zhang

• PhD
• Professor (Assistant) at The University of Hong Kong

This paper investigates the joint network equilibrium of parking and travel route choices in the future mobility paradigm with mixed traffic of private and shared autonomous vehicles. Specifically, we consider that private autonomous vehicle (PAV) travelers need to make both route and parking choices though the vehicle can drive itself to parking a...

This paper models a public transit system that can serve both passengers and urban freight, i.e., urban co-modality, and investigates the system-wide impacts of co-modality on existing urban freight forwarding service, freight carrier and urban transit services. In the co-modal system, we model one transit operator that serves passengers and provid...

This paper investigates the effect of airport expansion on air traffic and its implications on airport congestion, airline competition and the social welfare, considering various airport administrative regimes (i.e., profit-maximization, social welfare-maximization, and budget-constrained social welfare-maximization), airline market structures (i.e...

This paper analytically examines the ride-pooling market equilibrium under a single or multiple ride-pooling service(s) considering different pooling sizes (number of riders sharing the same vehicle) and endogenous congestion effect of the ride-pooling fleet, and investigates the optimal operation decisions of the service operator(s) regarding the...

This paper models the joint network equilibrium of parking and travel route choices under the mixed traffic flow with shared-autonomous vehicles (SAVs) and private autonomous vehicles (PAVs). The PAVs can drive themselves to park after dropping off travelers, while SAVs are operated by operators to serve the travelers between related origin-destina...

A parking sharing platform plays the role of a matchmaker between parking ‘slot owners/sharers’ and ‘slot renters’ who demand parking. The platform can act as either a reseller or a commissioner, and can have different economic objectives when setting prices for owners and renters. This paper is the first to address a platform operator’s pricing st...

A parking sharing platform plays the role of a matchmaker between parking 'slot owners/sharers' and 'slot renters' who demand parking. The platform can act as either a reseller or a commissioner, and can have different economic objectives when setting prices for owners and renters. This paper is the first to address a platform operator's pricing st...

This study examines the pricing strategy of a parking sharing platform that rents the daytime-usage rights of private parking spaces from parking owners and sells them to parking users. In an urban area with both shared parking and curbside parking, a choice equilibrium model is proposed to predict the number of shared parking users under any given...

The spare capacity of metro systems during non-peak hours can be utilized to transport parcels or freight, i.e., metro-integrated logistics systems (MILS). Existing studies regarding MILS mainly focused on operational level issues, e.g., parcel distribution problem and service scheduling problem. Little has been done to understand the strategic int...

Recent empirical studies indicated that using autonomous vehicles (AVs) can reduce commuters' value of time. In this context, this paper investigates how variation in value of time for AVs will reshape the commuting dynamics in the short-run and the implication on AV-related policies in the long run. We find that in the short run, the adoption of A...

This study examines the service network design problem (SNDP) for passenger shuttle buses in the airport and nearby places (e.g. train stations, parking, hotels, shopping areas). A time–space service network for bus flows and time–space networks for passenger flows are developed. Based on proposed time–space networks, the studied SNDP is formulated...

Most existing studies on autonomous intersection management (AIM) often focus on algorithms to accommodate conflicts among vehicles by assuming that the entrance lane and the exit lane of vehicles are exogenous inputs. This paper shows that allowing entrance lanes and exit lanes to be optimized can significantly improve traffic efficiency. In parti...

Most existing studies on autonomous intersection management (AIM) often focus on algorithms to accommodate conflicts among vehicles by assuming that the entrance lane and the exit lane of vehicles are exogenous inputs. This paper shows that allowing entrance lanes and exit lanes to be optimized can significantly improve traffic efficiency. In parti...

The spare capacity of metro systems during non-peak hours can be utilized to transport parcels or freights, i.e., metro-integrated logistics systems (MILS). Existing studies regarding MILS mainly focused on operational level issues, e.g., parcel distribution problem and service scheduling problem. Little has been done to understand the strategic nt...

This study examines the service network design problem (SNDP) for passenger shuttle buses in the airport and nearby places (e.g., train stations, parking, hotels , shopping areas). A time-space service network for bus flows and time-space networks for passenger flows are developed. Based on proposed time-space networks , the studied SNDP is formula...

This paper develops an analytical bi-level model to examine the strategic interaction and potential integration between bike sharing operation and metro system operation. In the bi-level problem with a given total travel demand, the lower-level model quantifies users’ equilibrium travel choices and the upper-level model optimizes the operation deci...

Recent studies proposed parking reservation schemes in a bi-modal transport network to manage parking competition and traffic congestion. This study proposes a new flexible parking reservation scheme, under which commuters’ reservation can expire and those arriving later than the reservation expiration time can retain his reservation by paying addi...

This study examines the pricing strategy of a parking sharing platform that rents the daytime-usage rights of private parking spaces from parking owners and sells them to parking users. In an urban area with both shared parking and curbside parking, a choice equilibrium model is proposed to predict the number of shared parking users under any given...

This paper models the joint equilibrium of destination and parking choices in cities under hybrid supply of curbside parking and shared parking. Given the parking supply (capacities and prices), the joint equilibrium of destination and parking choices is formulated as a variational inequality problem. We then discuss the existence and uniqueness/no...

This paper develops an analytical bi-level model to examine the strategic interaction and potential integration between bike sharing operation and metro system operation. In the bi-level problem with a given total travel demand, the lower-level model quantifies users' equilibrium travel choices and the upper-level model optimizes the operation deci...

This paper models the joint equilibrium of destination and parking choices in cities under hybrid supply of curbside parking and shared parking. Given the parking supply (capacities and prices), the joint equilibrium of destination and parking choices is formulated as a variational inequality problem. We then discuss the existence and uniqueness/no...

The COVID-19 pandemic has seriously impacted the air transport network (ATN) globally. Policies to restrict international passenger arrivals adopted by many countries are effective responses to control the spread of the virus. This paper studies the impact of two entry restriction policies implemented by some countries against international travele...

This study develops day-to-day models to explore how unreliability of public transit service affects the day-to-day evolution of travel choices. We consider two dynamical processes that incorporate transit service unreliability, i.e., travelers' learning and perception updating process (LPUP) and proportional-switch adjustment process (PSAP). The c...

Existing studies proposed different models to capture day-to-day evolution of travelers’ choices and traffic dynamics. However, explicitly incorporating public transit service unreliability/reliability into day-to-day traffic modeling received very little attention. This study develops day-to-day models to explore how the unreliability of public tr...

Most studies on the robustness of high-speed rail (HSR) network examine the issue at the aggregate level and consider a fixed period (e.g., a day or a month), regardless of when and where the disruption occurs. This study proposes a holistic framework of assessing the impact of node cascading disruptions in HSR network considering different affecte...

This paper investigates the impacts of high-speed rail (HSR) development on regional equity in China during 2007-2017. The equity in terms of economic output and HSR service is characterized at national, divisional (Eastern, Central, and Western), and provincial levels. The Gini indices associated with prefectures' gross regional product (GRP) per...

Most studies on the robustness of high-speed rail (HSR) network examine the issue at the aggregate level and consider a fixed period (e.g., a day or a month), regardless of when and where the disruption occurs. This study proposes a holistic framework of assessing the impact of node cascading disruptions in HSR network considering different affecte...

This paper investigates the impacts of high-speed rail (HSR) development on regional equity in China during 2007-2017. The equity in terms of economic output and HSR service is characterized at national, divisional (Eastern, Central, and Western), and provincial levels. The Gini indices associated with prefectures' gross regional product (GRP) per...

This study models and manages the parking sharing problem in urban cities, where private parking owners can share their vacant spaces to parking users via a parking sharing platform. The proposed model takes into account the spatial dimension of parking, where clusters of curbside spaces and private shareable ones are distributed over different loc...

This study models a multi-modal network with ridesharing services. The developed model reproduces the scenario where travelers with their own cars may choose to be a solo-driver, a ridesharing driver, a ridesharing rider, or a public transit passenger while travelers without their own cars can only choose to be either a ridesharing rider or a publi...

This paper quantifies multifold effects of megalopolis (MP) and high-speed railway (HSR) inaugurations on regional economic growth, in the context of MP and HSR development in China during 1996-2017. Three types of policy interventions are examined, i.e., MP inauguration, HSR introduction, and the joint intervention of MP and HSR. The difference-in...

This paper quantifies multifold effects of megalopolis (MP) and high-speed railway (HSR) inaugurations on regional economic growth, in the context of MP and HSR development in China during 1996–2017. Three types of policy interventions are examined, i.e., MP inauguration, HSR introduction, and the joint intervention of MP and HSR. The difference-in...

This study models a multi-modal network with ridesharing services. The developed model reproduces the scenario where travelers with their own cars may choose to be a solo-driver, a ridesharing driver, a ridesharing rider, or a public transit passenger while travelers without their own cars can only choose to be either a ridesharing rider or a publi...

Recent empirical studies indicated that using autonomous vehicles (AVs) can reduce commuters' value of time. In this context, this paper investigates how variation in value of time for AVs will reshape the commuting dynamics in the short-run and the implication on AV-related policies in the long run. We find that in the short-run, the adoption of A...

This paper examines the time-dependent bus dispatching problem in a multi-modal context. Traditional studies along this line often optimize the bus frequency or schedule. However, they may fail as the realized bus frequency or schedule is constrained by the time-varying traffic congestion on the road. Adding more buses to service does not necessari...

The impacts of air transport on the economy arise both directly, via activity in the aviation sector; and indirectly, via increased spending and wider economic benefits associated with improved access to resources, markets, technology and economic mass. Economic activity, in turn, supports and generates demand for air transport. Despite its potenti...

The rapid development of high-speed rail (HSR) in China has raised questions about its implications for regional economic growth. Most existing studies take an aggregate approach to quantify the economic impacts of HSR entrance primarily by inspecting the effect of the dummy variable which reflects the existence of HSR service. This paper takes one...

This paper envisions a mixed network with autonomous vehicle (AV) expressways and non-autonomous local streets in the future, where a trip may consist of both the AV self-driving part and the manual-driving part. A linear traffic corridor approach is adopted, where AV expressways and non-autonomous streets are in parallel and are connected through...

This paper quantifies the multifold economic impacts of high-speed railway (HSR) in China. Firstly, the effect of introducing HSR on the prefecture-level gross regional product (GRP) is investigated using the difference-in-differences method. Results show that HSR inauguration has positive effects on economic development. Secondly, the effect of pr...

Left-turn forbiddance (with right-hand traffic) is a common operation strategy at intersections to improve efficiency. However, existing studies on left-turn forbiddance are often based on local conditions at a single intersection. This study is a first attempt to examine the optimal locations of left-turn forbiddance for multiple intersections alo...

Megacity growth in developing countries suffers from heavy congestion, which undermines satisfaction as experienced by local residents. Drawing on a large scale individual survey in Beijing, this paper explores the social-spatial differentiation of urbanites’ satisfaction perceptions about congestion by comparing residents with various motorized co...

This paper examines the time-dependent bus dispatching problem in a multi-modal context. Traditional studies along this line often optimize the bus frequency or schedule. However, they may fail as the realized bus frequency or schedule is constrained by the time-varying traffic congestion on the road. Adding more buses to service does not necessari...

This study models the parking sharing problem in a linear monocentric city, where private parking owners can share their vacant spaces to parking users via an e-platform, and then examines the platform operator's pricing strategies for revenue-maximization or social-cost-minimization. The model considers the spatial dimension of parking that both p...

This paper quantifies the substitution and complementary effects of high-speed rail (HSR) on air travel demand in terms of both route traffic and airport enplanement. Employing the difference-in-differences (DID) method, the first part of the analysis measures the effect of new HSR routes on parallel air route traffic with a focus on East Asian reg...

A smart design of transport systems involves efficient use and allocation of the limited urban road capacity in the multimodal environment. This paper intends to understand the system-wide effect of dividing the road space to the private and public transport modes and how the public transport service provider responds to the space changes. To this...

This study models the joint evolution (over calendar time) of travelers’ departure time and mode choices, and the resulting traffic dynamics in a bi-modal transportation system. Specifically, we consider that, when adjusting their departure time and mode choices, travelers can learn from their past travel experiences as well as the traffic forecast...

Recent studies examined the households’ trip-timing decisions where adults have to drive their children to school. These studies focus on the cases where school is near workplace. However, different school locations can affect travels and activity patterns significantly. This study re-looks at the household shared-ride problem where school is near...

Consider a competitive highway/transit transportation system in which travelers either drive on the bottleneck-constrained highway or take scheduled trains from home to the workplace in the morning peak hours. This paper explores the impact of bottleneck capacity expansion on transit operating schemes (fleet size and fare) and travelers’ departure...

This study investigates the morning commute problem with both household and individual travels, where the household travel is a shared ride of household (family) members. In particular, it considers the situation when a proportion of commuters have to drive their children to school first and then go to work (household travel). For household travel,...

Recently, some studies examined how downtown parking space limitation re-shapes the morning commute in the case of a single origin–destination network. This paper further formulates and analyses the commuting equilibrium problem of both mode and departure time choices in a bi-modal (auto and public transit) many-to-one network. Several properties o...

Downs (1962) and Thomson (1977) suggested that highway capacity expansion may produce counterproductive effects on the two-mode (auto and transit) transport system (Downs–Thomson Paradox). This paper investigates the occurrence of this paradox when transit authority can have different economic objectives (profit-maximizing or breakeven) and operati...

This paper is concerned with the welfare issues arise when the highway capacity is being expanded. In the presence of the public transit as an alternative travel mode, commuters' modal choices would be affected by: the change of the highway characteristics, the transit operating strategies and the degree of substitutability between the two travel m...

This paper examines the effectiveness of variable speed limits (VSLs) on improving traffic flow efficiency in a stylized setting of morning commute where a fixed number of individuals commute from home to work through a single bottleneck. We consider a VSL system installed along the freeway towards the bottleneck, which adjusts commuters' cruising...

Morning commuters may have to depart from home earlier to secure a parking space when parking supply in the city center is insufficient. Recent studies show that parking reservations can reduce highway congestion and deadweight loss of parking competition simultaneously. This study develops a novel tradable parking permit scheme to realize or imple...

Recently, Liu et al. (2013) extends Yang et al. (2013) by considering the parking reservation with expiration time, under which commuters with reservation have to arrive at the parking spaces before the expiration time. They found that when parking reservations have uniform expiration time, it is socially preferable to let the parking reservation t...