Choice models were developed on the basis of data from surveys of commuters on California State Route (SR) 91, the nation's first operational value-priced toll facility, in 1999. The models represent route choice among the value-priced SR 91 express lanes, the parallel nontoll freeway, and the Eastern Toll Road, a roughly parallel fixed-toll highway. The models also represent commuters' choice of vehicle occupancy (single occupant, two-person groups, and groups of three or more persons), time of day of travel, and whether to obtain the transponder needed for electronic toll collection. The models show implied values of time for commuters in the range of $13 to $16 per hour and toll elasticities for express-lane traffic of 0.7 to 1.0, depending on the time period involved. Results demonstrate that there is scope for adjusting toll schedules, even in as small as 1-h increments, in order to regulate demand.
Abstract