Re:$40 road tolls offer insight into commuter psychology
by dredmorbius on Thursday December 07, 2017 @09:29AM
(#15870201)
How do you propose to run an auction on autos entering a given roadway?
Re:$40 road tolls offer insight into commuter psychology
by thaeli on Thursday December 07, 2017 @11:19AM
(#15871340)
The dynamic toll pricing, based on utilization, on this roadway is very nearly an auction.
Re:$40 road tolls offer insight into commuter psychology
by dredmorbius on Friday December 08, 2017 @01:02AM
(#15876975)
Yes, but that's not an auction: one bidder raising over another.
You might be able to do this in a two-at-a-time case, with two lanes of cars. Problem is that the lane behind the car that consistently underbids is being affected by a third party's decision.
It seems that there's a problem with the feedback/response cycle in one-at-a-time pricing systems. The more effective systems approach is to set a scheduled or contingent pricing, perhaps at 10-15 minute increments, minimum. A regular schedule (as with peak / off-peak rail or transit schedules) is another option.
Hence: how does OP propose to run an auction?
The solution is to auction road capacity and use the auction proceeds to fund maintenance of that road and construction of others. Besides being vastly more efficient (from a market perspective) than an arbitrary fixed rate, it also means that resources are allocated towards roads more efficiently (if your fund allocation mechanism makes some sense).