Full text
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| Author(s): |
Juliana Jerônimo de Araújo
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Master's Dissertation |
| Press: | São Carlos. |
| Institution: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos (EESC/SBD) |
| Defense date: | 2001-11-01 |
| Examining board members: |
Jose Reynaldo Anselmo Setti;
Suely da Penha Sanches;
Enilson Medeiros dos Santos
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| Advisor: | Jose Reynaldo Anselmo Setti |
| Abstract | |
The research objective was to analyze the operation of toll plazas in order to give subsidies for its project as well as to establish parameters and procedures to evaluate the service level. The data were collected in five toll plazas in the state of São Paulo, operated in rural highways. The operational aspects studied were: the vehicle arrival process; the speed profile during deceleration at the toll plaza entrance; the process in which drivers select toll booths; the vehicle processing time at toll booths (including payment method); the speed profile during acceleration at the toll plaza exit; and the speed at AVI toll booths, which process just vehicles equipped with electronic toll collection. The conclusions of the colleted data analysis are: the vehicle arrival process can be represented by a negative exponential distribution (for short time intervals); linear models are an acceptable approach to represent the speed profile during deceleration and acceleration of vehicles at toll plazas; the majority of drivers choose the toll booth in the same side that they arrive the toll plaza and, once the side is chosen, they go to the booth with the shortest queue; trucks and buses frequently go to the right side of the toll plaza; some drivers go to a toll booth with queue despite the availability of free booths at that side of the plaza; and the vehicle processing time at toll booths varies with the vehicle type, the payment method and the plaza characteristics related with the toll value, the traffic volume and the predominant user. An example of how this data can be used to determine the service level of toll plazas is showed by using a simulation model. This model indicated that the use of electronic toll collection reduces considerably congestions at toll plazas: when the traffic flow approaches capacity, the average time spent at the toll plaza is reduced near half if 10% of the users change from manual payment to electronic payment method. (AU) | |