Social dynamics of travel behaviour
Student name: Mr Aravind Harikumar
Guide: Dr Soumendu Sarkar
Year of completion: 2017
Host Organisation: TERI University
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Prof. M N Murty
Abstract: Even though the negative effects of car usage is loud and clear in most cities in the form of pollution, congestion and accidents, car ownership is on the rise in almost all cities in India. Adding to this problem, the booming online transportation network companies are striving to make car usage independent of car ownership. This paper examines such a situation using a simple evolutionary model where all individuals make a choice between using cars or an alternate mode (e.g. bus, cycle etc.) in the presence of negative effects of cars on the other mode. Using replicator dynamics, the existence of sub-optimal equilibriums are discussed in this paper for a homogeneous population. Further, this paper explores the scenario when the population is risk averse and discusses effects of transport policies that target the negative effects of car use.
