Author(s):
M.W. Burris, C.H. Spiegelman, A. Abir, S. Lee
Publication Date
September 2016
Abstract
The value of time savings (VOT) is an estimate of what travelers would be willing to pay in order to save time on a particular trip. VOT allows the measurement of benefits derived from transportation projects that reduce congestion and travel time, and is used to justify infrastructure investments or help determine toll road viability.
Travelers also place value on trips that are reliable and would be willing to pay for trips that have predictable travel times regardless of when those trips occur. The value of reliability (VOR) is therefore equivalent to the amount of money that travelers would be willing to pay to reduce the variation in their expected tavel time. VOR is less commonly used than VOT but is becoming an increasingly prominent metric in assessing the value of mobility improvement projects.
VOT and VOR are commonly estimated using stated-preference (SP) methods where travelers are presented with a series of different travel scenarios with an associated cost and asked to indicate their preference. Technology is increasinlgy enabling the generation of VOT and VOR estimates based on revealed preference (RP)-based methods that differ from SP methods because they are based on actual travel behavior. This report documents the work of Texas A&M Transportation Institute researchers who generated new VOT and VOR estimates based on RP methods using data collected over a three-year period from transponders on Katy Freeway in Houston, Texas.
Report Number:
PRC 15-37 F
Link(s):
Document/Product
http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/PRC-15-37-F.pdf
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