Travel time, reliability, additional trip time, willingness to pay and their values by socio-economic factors

The objective of this paper is to evaluate travel time, reliability, willingness to pay, additional trip time, and their values across different age groups, genders, income groups, and area types (city, town or other) to help agencies assess their programs, projects, and policies accurately on a consistent basis. The results obtained, from a random survey conducted across the state of North Carolina, indicate that the average travel time and the average additional trip time are 23.47 minutes and 10.54 minutes, respectively. The additional trip time is observed to be higher for lower income groups (< $25,000/annum). Majority of the participants i.e., 55%, tend to prefer an unreliable route with a lower travel time most of the times than a reliable route with a relatively higher travel time. The average wage rate per minute of, both, who choose a reliable route and an unreliable route is computed to be the same and equal to $0.51. The value of travel time or travel time savings per minute increased with income while the value of willingness to pay is higher for lower income groups compared to other considered income groups. The value of additional trip time for age group 35-55 years is higher compared to any other age group considered in this research. The generalized value of travel time or travel time savings and the generalized value of additional trip time (maximum planned buffer time) by income for North Carolina is $0.51 per minute. On average, the generalized value of willingness to pay to reduce one minute of travel time in North Carolina was estimated equal to $0.11. Differences in hourly wage rate, average travel time, additional trip time, and the computed values were observed when analysis was conducted by area type.