The Value of Travel Time and Reliability - Empirical Evidence from Katy Freeway

Travelers place value on both time savings and reliability when choosing a route for a trip. The values of travel time (VOT) have long been an integral part of the appraisal of transport projects. Recently some transport planners have been incorporating the value of travel time reliability (VOR) into transportation project evaluation as well. Whereas VOT measurements have established guidelines, VOR measurement methods are not well established. This research used data that was collected during 2012, 2013, and 2014 that was generated by automated vehicle identification (AVI) sensors from Katy Freeway travelers. Lane choice models were developed to examine the factors influencing travelers’ lane choice decisions in different traffic conditions and estimate their value of travel time. Models with two independent variables, travel time and toll, resulted in estimated values of travel time from $1.96/hour to $8.06/hour. The estimated value of time was higher for eastbound traffic than westbound traffic. The research could not draw any conclusion on whether the travel time reliability had any impact on travelers’ lane choice decisions. However, it was observed that a bad trip experience on the general purpose lanes (GPLs) did not have a significant influence on lane choice decision. Furthermore, the percentage of manages lane (ML) trips was higher for the travelers who traveled the whole length of the MLs/GPLs compared to travelers who traveled only a part of the GPLs/MLs. The reason might be that the ends of the MLs provided easier access when compared to the midpoints of the MLs