Impacts of the vehicle’s fuel consumption and exhaust emissions on the trip cost allowing late arrival under car-following model

•Two trip costs for each commuter allowing late arrival are proposed.•The effects of exhaust emissions on the trip cost I are explored.•The effects of exhaust emissions on the trip cost II are explored.

In this paper, we apply car-following model to study the influences of the vehicle’s fuel consumption and exhaust emissions on each commuter’s trip cost allowing late arrival. Our results show that considering each commuter’s fuel cost and emission cost only enhances his trip cost and the system’s total cost, but does not influence on his optimal time headway at the origin under the minimum total cost. The results can help commuters to optimize their time headway at the origin.