Urban Priority Pass: Fair Signalized Intersection Management Accounting For Passenger Needs Through Prioritization

TL;DR

Urban intersections are bottlenecks where standard efficiency-focused management neglects traveler heterogeneity and equity. This paper proposes a reservation-based Priority Pass that grants expedited passage to entitled drivers at signalized intersections without delaying others or sacrificing overall efficiency. Manhattan case study indicates feasibility, achieving up to 40% delay reductions for prioritized users and projecting up to $1 million in daily revenues from prioritization. The approach offers a market-based mechanism to allocate delays to those most in need, with potential safety, environmental, and economic benefits for urban mobility.

Abstract

Over the past few decades, efforts of road traffic management and practice have predominantly focused on maximizing system efficiency and mitigating congestion from a system perspective. This efficiency-driven approach implies the equal treatment of all vehicles, which often overlooks individual user experiences, broader social impacts, and the fact that users are heterogeneous in their urgency and experience different costs when being delayed. Existing strategies to account for the differences in needs of users in traffic management cover dedicated transit lanes, prioritization of emergency vehicles, transit signal prioritization, and economic instruments. Even though they are the major bottleneck for traffic in cities, no dedicated instrument that enables prioritization of individual drivers at intersections. The Priority Pass is a reservation-based, economic controller that expedites entitled vehicles at signalized intersections, without causing arbitrary delays for not-entitled vehicles and without affecting transportation efficiency de trop. The prioritization of vulnerable road users, emergency vehicles, commercial taxi and delivery drivers, or urgent individuals can enhance road safety, and achieve social, environmental, and economic goals. A case study in Manhattan demonstrates the feasibility of individual prioritization (up to 40\% delay decrease), and quantifies the potential of the Priority Pass to gain social welfare benefits for the people. A market for prioritization could generate up to 1 million \$ in daily revenues for Manhattan, and equitably allocate delay reductions to those in need, rather than those with a high income.