VALUING TIME AND RELIABILITY: ASSESSING THE EVIDENCE FROM ROAD PRICING DEMONSTRATIONS

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

2005

Subject Area

operations - reliability, economics - pricing, economics - value of time

Keywords

Value pricing (Road pricing), Value of time, Value of reliability, Travel time, Travel costs, Toll roads, Stated preferences, Southern California, Road pricing, Revealed preferences, Operational tests, Journey time, Demonstration projects, Commuters

Abstract

Two recent road pricing demonstrations in southern California provided opportunities for measuring commuters' values of time and reliability. This paper compares results from evaluations of these demonstration projects. Unlike most revealed preference studies of value of time, the choice to pay to use the toll facilities in these demonstrations is relatively independent from other travel choices such as whether to use public transit. Unlike most stated preference studies, the scenarios presented in these surveys are real ones that travelers have faced or know about from media coverage. By combining revealed and stated preference data, some of the studies have obtained enough independent variation in variables to disentangle effects of cost, time and reliability, while still grounding the results in real behavior. Both sets of studies find that the value of time saved on the morning commute is between $20 and $40 per hour when based on revealed behavior, and less than half that amount when based on hypothetical behavior. These results suggest that using stated preference data in computing benefits from travel time savings will undervalue projects whose purpose is to reduce congested travel time. These studies also indicate that reliability is also valued quite highly, and further advances in studying reliability should be a top research priority.

Comments

Transportation Research Part A Home Page: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09658564

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