Florida DOT Report Re-Examines Value of Travel-Time Savings

A recently released report from the Florida Department of Transportation provides a new calculation for the value of travel-time savings for purposes such as traveler behavior analysis and congestion pricing policies.FDOT’s report focuses on the 95 Express facility, which operates in Miami-Dade County. Goals of 95 Express include encouraging carpooling as well as transit use.

Research for the report entailed surveying individuals on aspects of their trips made along a seven-mile stretch of I-95, their attitudes on transportation, their trip origins and destinations, and their home and work locations. Respondents were also asked to provide information on their annual household income.

The report estimates VTTS of those travelers is about 49% of their hourly wage based on household income — with a range from $2.27 to $79.32 per hour and a mean of $32.

While focusing on 95 Express, FDOT’s report assesses data on managed-lane projects elsewhere including Lee County, Florida; Loudoun County, Virginia; Houston; Salt Lake City; San Diego; and Denver. The report also looks at projects in cities that are participating in the federal Urban Partnership Agreement or Congestion Reduction Demonstration programs. Those places include Minneapolis, Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle.

“Estimates of value of time and value of travel-time savings are critical elements in benefit/cost analyses of transportation projects,” according to the report. “In addition, differences in VTTS among various modes of transportation and among the residential collection, line haul, and distribution portions of a commute can provide information to transportation planners and others on the likely success of diverting trips from single-occupant vehicles to alternatives.”

Criticisms of commonly used methods for measuring value of time (“VOT”) and value of travel-time savings (“VTTS”) include the reporting of average values for entire populations or large subcategories of travelers that can skew the actual numbers for specific areas.

“By better understanding the market and distribution of VTTS, decision makers will be able to more accurately estimate traffic and revenue impacts of various transportation projects, including High Occupancy/Toll (HOT) and managed lanes,” according to the report.

FDOT’s 91-page report, “Improving Value of Travel-Time Savings Estimation for More Effective Transportation Project Evaluation,” is available at bit.ly/VTTS-Report.