In standard economic models of traffic congestion, traffic flow does not fall under heavily congested conditions. But this is counter to experience, especially in the downtown areas of major cities during rush hour. This paper analyzes a bathtub model of downtown rush-hour traffic congestion...

In downtown areas, what proportion of curbside should be allocated to parking? In contrast to most previous work on the economics of parking, this paper focuses on optimal curbside parking capacity in both first-best (where pricing is efficient) and second-best (where pricing is inefficient)...

Through an extended numerical example, this paper develops a diagrammatic analysis of steady-state parking and traffic congestion in an isotropic downtown and provides systematic policy analysis. Unlike our previous work, the model incorporates curbside parking, garage parking, and...

According to the standard model of urban traffic congestion and urban spatial structure, congestion tolling results in a more concentrated city. In recent years, a new model of rush hour urban auto congestion has been developed which incorporates trip-timing decisions: the bottleneck model. In...

Suppose that there are two congestible modes of travel from A to B - road and rail for concreteness - which are imperfect substitutes in demand. Road congestion from A to B is underpriced; this is an unalterable distortion. Compared to the first best, should the transportation planner choose a...

This paper presents a downtown parking model that integrates traffic congestion and saturated on-street parking. We assume that the stock of cars cruising for parking adds to traffic congestion. Two major results come out from the model, one of which is robust. The robust one is that, whether or...

Economists' favorite remedy for traffic congestion is road pricing. Not only is road pricing based on sound economic principles, but also given current technology it could be implemented at reasonable cost and in a flexible and sophisticated manner. But there are serious obstacles to the...