Measuring value of travel time and travel time variability in the presence of managed lanes: results from a pilot stated preference survey on the Capital Beltway

Abstract

Managed lanes are roadways that have additional requirements placed on their usage in an effort to maintain reliable, uncongested flow. This concept is already gaining use in some parts of the United States where vehicles that do not meet the minimum vehicle occupancy requirements are allowed to use the high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane with the payment of a fee, leading to the term, high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes. This study collects data on behavioral responses to managed lanes and in particular quantifies a traveler’s value of time in the hypothetical scenario that managed lanes are applied on the Maryland side of the Capital Beltway. The main purpose is to provide a data collection and evaluation framework to assess potential projects. Two stated preference (SP) surveys have been designed and executed. The first analyzes choice across normal lanes, HOT and HOV, proposing different components of travel time. The second is developed in a context of departure time shift and proposes uncertainty as a range. Results show that the second experiment was more successful in recovering work and non-work values of travel time, delivers significant results for the uncertainty coefficients, and reinforces the finding that later departure time is perceived more negatively than earlier departure time.

Keywords:

• Value of time
• Travel time variability
• Managed lanes
• HOT lanes
• Stated preference

Notes

1 The reader is referred to Börjesson et al. (2012), Halvorson et al. (2006), and Viti et al. (2003) for more recent empirical and theoretical work on HOT and tolling schemes.

2 The reader is referred to Bates et al. (2001), Hollander (2006), Li et al. (2010), and Noland and Polak (2002) for more comprehensive coverage of the general theory and empirical work in the area of traveler’s value of travel time reliability.

3 The state of Maryland generally uses an approximate value of time of $16/h for project evaluation.