Parking Pricing in the Morning Commute Problem Considering Human Exposure to Vehicular Emissions

Walking is the final phase of the morning commute, during which commuters are exposed to vehicular emissions. This study proposes a novel analytical model to evaluate how emission exposure affects commuters’ departure time choices and parking behavior. Different from traditional bottleneck models, our model includes a nonlinear term in the generalized cost function to account for emission exposure. The findings reveal that, at user equilibrium, rational commuters seeking to minimize their own generalized costs will park outward, resulting in undesired scenarios in which all walking commuters suffer from emission exposure. However, we show that in a system-optimal scenario, emission exposure can be eliminated if commuters park inward; the schedule delay cost is minimized in such a parking order. To achieve this outcome, we propose a new spatiotemporal parking pricing scheme designed to reduce the overall system cost and incentivize inward parking patterns. Case studies using empirical data show that this pricing approach, independent of specific parking orders, effectively encourages inward parking, thereby minimizing emissions and improving commuter welfare. Hopefully, findings from this research can provide insights to the development of effective roadside parking pricing strategies.