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Value of Reliability: High Occupancy Toll Lanes, General Purpose Lanes, and Arterials

Author

Listed:
  • Carlos Carrion
  • David Levinson

    (Nexus (Networks, Economics, and Urban Systems) Research Group, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minnesota)

Abstract

In the Minneapolis-St. Paul region (Twin Cities), the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) converted the Interstate 394 High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes to High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes (or MnPASS Express Lanes). These lanes allow single occupancy vehicles (SOV) to access the HOV lanes by paying a fee. This fee is adjusted according to a dynamic pricing system that varies with the current demand. This paper estimates the value placed by the travelers on the HOT lanes because of improvements in travel time reliability. This value depends on how the travelers regard a route with predictable travel times (or small travel time variability) in comparison to another with unpredictable travel times (or high travel time variability). For this purpose, commuters are recruited and equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS) devices and instructed to commute for two weeks on each of three plausible alternatives between their home in the western suburbs of Minneapolis eastbound to work in downtown or the University of Minnesota: I-394 HOT lanes, I-394 General Purpose lanes (untolled), and signalized arterials close to the I-394 corridor. They are then given the opportunity to travel on their preferred route after experiencing each alternative. This revealed preference data is then analyzed using mixed logit route choice models. Three measures of reliability are explored and incorporated in the estimation of the models: standard deviation (a classical measure in the research literature); shortened right range (typically found in departure time choice models); and interquartile range (75th - 25th percentile). Each of these measures represents distinct ways about how travelers deal with different sections of reliability. In all the models, it was found that reliability was valued highly (and statistically significantly), but differently according to how it was defined. The estimated value of reliability in each of the models indicates that commuters are willing to pay a fee for a reliable route depending on how they value their reliability savings.

Suggested Citation

  • Carlos Carrion & David Levinson, 2010. "Value of Reliability: High Occupancy Toll Lanes, General Purpose Lanes, and Arterials," Working Papers 000073, University of Minnesota: Nexus Research Group.
    • Handle: RePEc:nex:wpaper:vorpaper
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/11299/180045
    File Function: Second version, 2013
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Wolff, Hendrik, 2012. "Value of Time: Speeding Behavior and Gasoline Prices," IZA Discussion Papers 6788, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Carlos Carrion & David Levinson, 2012. "Route choice dynamics after a link restoration," Working Papers 000105, University of Minnesota: Nexus Research Group.
    3. Carrion, Carlos & Levinson, David, 2012. "Value of travel time reliability: A review of current evidence," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 720-741.
    4. Jenelius, Erik & Mattsson, Lars-Göran & Levinson, David, 2011. "Traveler delay costs and value of time with trip chains, flexible activity scheduling and information," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 45(5), pages 789-807, June.
    5. Hongcheng Gan & Yang Bai, 2014. "The effect of travel time variability on route choice decision: a generalized linear mixed model based analysis," Transportation, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 339-350, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    time reliability; GPS; route choice; random utility; I-394 HOT; MnPass; mixed logit;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R40 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - General
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior

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