Route choice in the presence of a toll road: The role of pre-trip information and learning

• We present the results of three laboratory experiments regarding route choice behavior in the presence of a toll road.
• Therefore, we can draw precise conclusions on the effects of pre-trip information.
• We found that learning plays an important role in the route choice process.
• The results suggest that a stable equilibrium such as Wardrop’s UE does not exist.
• We found that women prefer travel time reliability over cost reduction.

Choosing a route is a complex task, especially since the roads’ capacities are limited and road users non-cooperatively seek to optimize their own trip. This article present the results of three in-laboratory route choice experiments. In all experiments the participants had to choose repeatedly between a high-capacity toll-road and a toll-free main road. We investigate the role of pre-trip information on the resulting route usage dynamics. Besides the absence of a stable equilibrium point (Wardrop’s User Equilibrium), we found that the participants improve their decisions over the course of time as a result of learning. Additional information appears only useful if only a limited number of participants possess such information. Moreover, we found gender-related differences in the observed road usage patterns: female participants were more likely to choose the toll road than male participants.