In this paper, we propose step fare schemes for a rail transit line connecting a residential district with a central business district (CBD). The proposed fare schemes aim to reduce the total system cost (TSC) while ensuring revenue-neutrality for the rail operator. The user equilibrium (UE) principle in terms of generalized trip cost is adopted to formulate commuters’ departure time choice problems with late arrival under the proposed fare schemes. The equilibrium flow patterns and trip costs are analytically derived. It is found that passengers’ departure times present more even distribution under the schemes with more fare steps, resulting in a lower TSC. Besides, the optimal train schedule and the optimal number and capacity of trains are analyzed. Finally, numerical examples are provided to illustrate the performance of the proposed transit fare schemes.

中文翻译：

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通过阶梯票价方案管理轨道交通高峰时段的拥堵

在本文中，我们提出了连接住宅区和中央商务区 (CBD) 的轨道交通线路的阶梯票价方案。拟议的票价计划旨在降低总系统成本 (TSC)，同时确保铁路运营商的收入中性。采用广义旅行成本方面的用户均衡（UE）原理，在提出的票价方案下，制定了通勤者迟到的出发时间选择问题。平衡流动模式和行程成本是通过分析得出的。研究发现，在票价阶梯较多的方案下，乘客的出发时间分布更均匀，导致TSC较低。此外，还分析了最佳列车时刻表和最佳列车数量和容量。最后，