Research Projects

The project seeks to tackle methodological challenges arising in designing fare pricing for an integrated mobility platform that facilitates seamless multimodal journeys across various transportation services, including metro, bus, local trains, auto-rickshaws, and ridehailing services like Ola and Uber. Currently, Indian cities have disintegrated public transportation systems, where different agencies operate independently, forcing passengers to purchase separate tickets for each leg of their journey. Moreover, in many places, due to the first mile/last mile disconnectivity to mass public transportation, passengers have to depend on private vehicles or ridehailing services to complete their entire journey. This fragmentation not only frustrates commuters but also discourages public transport use, contributing to increased road congestion and carbon emissions. The project proposes a platform that allows travelers to enter their origin and destination and receive a tailored assortment of multimodal journeys. To realize this vision, the research project will focus on several key questions. First, how can we efficiently generate an attractive assortment of multimodal journeys based on passenger preferences regarding various components of travel time—such as waiting, walking, transferring, and in-vehicle time—within large-scale multimodal networks? Second, how should we design fare prices for these journeys on the mobility platform? Third, how can we fairly allocate revenue among multiple service providers once a passenger purchases a single multimodal ticket? To address these challenges, the Principal Investigator (PI) will employ assortment optimization models with advanced graph search techniques to efficiently find an assortment of journeys for a given passenger request. Further, for fare pricing design and revenue sharing, game-theoretic mixed-integer convex programming will be utilized to develop a mechanism that makes it beneficial for each mobility service provider to cooperate and provide integrated mobility rather than competing individually in the market. This type of integrated pricing can be implemented using the National Common Mobility Card, QR codes, and cellphone apps. Through such a ticketing system, the platform will significantly benefit millions of commuters who currently rely on multiple transportation modes or face barriers to using public transport due to first/last mile connectivity issues. The broader impacts include reduced emissions, enhanced mobility for low-income communities, alleviated traffic congestion, and increased revenue for mobility providers. Finally, the project will aid the development of human resources and a graduate-level course on mechanism design for integrated transportation.