Information and time-of-usage decisions in the bottleneck model with stochastic capacity and demand

This paper analyzes the effects of information on participation and time-of-use decisions for a facility subject to queueing congestion when there are predictable and unpredictable fluctuations in capacity and demand. With constant elasticity demand and schedule delay cost functions, expected social surplus is greater with perfect than with imperfect information. But imperfect information can reduce welfare by inducing adverse changes in individuals' times of usage. This finding has implications for the design of emerging technologies - such as Advanced Traveller Information Systems - that provide information about usage conditions. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.