Analysis of the equilibrium trip cost without late arrival and the corresponding traffic properties using a car-following model

• A car-following model is utilized to explore each commuter’s trip cost without late arrival.
• The analytical results are testified by the numerical tests.
• The traffic flow properties in the equilibrium state are studied.

In this paper, we first apply a generalized car-following model to study the commuter trip cost without late arrival from an analytical perspective; and then use the full velocity difference (FVD) model to verify the analytical results and explore the corresponding traffic properties from a numerical perspective. Finally, we explore the evolutions of traffic flow on a road with an open boundary under three traffic situations (i.e., the number of commuters is low, moderate, and high) and find that the evolution of traffic flow is related to the number of commuters. The numerical results are qualitatively consistent with the analytical results and illustrate that car-following models can be used to study each commuter’s trip cost without late arrival and that the car-following model can accurately quantify each commuter’s trip cost.