Highway toll allocation

An important operational aspect in the management of tolled highways is how the collected tolls should be allocated over the different highway segments, either operated by different operators or by different units of one operator. This paper analyzes this toll allocation problem both from an axiomatic and a game theoretic perspective. Based on different toll charging systems, specifically the distance-based toll system and the fixed toll system, we propose three allocation or sharing methods: the Segments Equal Sharing method, the Exits Equal Sharing method, and the Entrances Equal Sharing method. After direct and game theoretic characterizations of these methods, we apply them to several real-life highways.