Impacts of User Heterogeneity and Attitudinal Factors on Roadway Pricing Analysis - Investigation of Value of Time and Value of Reliability for Managed Lane Facilities in South Florida

Authors

Md Sakoat HossanFollow

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Major/Program

Civil Engineering

First Advisor's Name

Xia Jin

First Advisor's Committee Title

Committee chair

Second Advisor's Name

Albert Gan

Second Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Third Advisor's Name

Mohammed Hadi

Third Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Fourth Advisor's Name

B. M. Golam Kibria

Fourth Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Keywords

Preference Heterogeneity, Mixed Logit, Value of Time, Value of Reliability, Willingness-to-pay, Managed Lanes, Attitudinal Factor, Factor Analysis, Cluster Analysis, Multinomial Logit

Date of Defense

2-23-2016

Abstract

Managed lane refers to the application of various operational and design strategies on highway facilities to improve system efficiency and mobility by proactively allocating traffic capacity to different lanes. One of the key elements to understand the behavior changes and underlying causalities in user responses to managed lanes is to examine the value of time (VOT) and value of reliability (VOR). The breadth of this dissertation encompasses two major dimensions of VOT and VOR estimation – distributions or variations across different users and under different circumstances; and influences of unobserved attitudinal characteristics on roadway pricing valuation.

To understand travelers’ choice behavior regarding the usage of managed lanes, combined revealed preference (RP) and stated preference (SP) data were used in this study. Mixed logit modeling was applied as the state of the art methodology to capture heterogeneity in users’ choice behavior. The model revealed an average value of $10.68 per hour for VOT and $13.91 per hour for VOR, which are reasonable considering the average household income in the region, and are well within the ranges found in the literature.

In terms of user heterogeneity, the mixed logit model was further enhanced by adding interaction effects of variables, which helped recognize and quantify potential sources of heterogeneity in user sensitivities to time, reliability, and cost. The findings indicated that travelers were likely to exhibit higher willingness to pay when they were female, younger (years), older (>54 years), had higher income (> 50 K), driving alone, and traveled on weekdays.

Attitudinal aspects are rarely incorporated into roadway pricing analysis. The study herein presents an effort to explore the role of attitudinal factors in drivers’ propensity toward using managed lanes. Model results boded for a significant contribution of attitudinal parameters in the model, both in terms of coefficients and model performance.

This study provides a robust approach to quantify user heterogeneity in VOT and VOR and capture the impacts of attitudinal attributes in pricing valuation. The results of this study contribute to a better understanding on what attributes lead to higher or lower VOT and VOR and to what extent.

Identifier

FIDC000227

Recommended Citation

Hossan, Md Sakoat, "Impacts of User Heterogeneity and Attitudinal Factors on Roadway Pricing Analysis - Investigation of Value of Time and Value of Reliability for Managed Lane Facilities in South Florida" (2016). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2500.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/2500