Timing equilibria in an urban model with congestion

All spatial urban models with congestion assume that the departure (arrival ) time of commutes is exogenously determined and assume that travel speed a t a given time and location depends upon the traffic density at that point in time and space. This paper presents a framework that encompasses such mo dels, but allows workers to choose the time at which they leave home (arriv e at work). This paper then proves that in general only one equilibrium exi sts for urban models with traditional congestion technology: a commuting pa ttern in which commuting is continuous and the rush hour never ends, which is unrepresentative of traffic patterns anywhere. This paper concludes by d iscussing alternative general equilibrium urban models with congestion that may have more realistic equilibria. (C) 2000 Academic Press.