Maria Börjesson

Company incentives and tools for promoting telecommuting

The aim of this article is to identify company and employee benefits from telecommuting. Telecommuting implies that a large proportion of the companys office space is unoccupied. To use this efficiently, flexible offices could be introduced in which the employees do not have their own office but use any desk in an open office space. In addition, if telecommuting implies reductions in office space in which employees donate the use of their homes—rent free—to the employer, it is quite fair for the employer to consider returning some of that savings to the telecommuters in compensation for the use of their homes. The results indicate that employees are in fact sensitive to the monetary compensation and that company benefits could be obtained.

The benefits of cycling: Viewing cyclists as travellers rather than non-motorists

Purpose: This chapter provides a thinkpiece on economic evaluation and policy for cycling. Bicycle investments are often motivated by a desire to improve health, the environment and congestion conditions. However, we argue that since the bicycle is a part of the transport system, it should be evaluated as such. Focusing on implications for cycling appraisal in general, we also discuss two conflicting trends in Stockholm: a sharp decrease in cycling in the outer areas, and a sharp increase in the inner parts. Methodology: We use i) travel survey data to analyze the potential to reduce congestion through improvements for cyclists, ii) travel survey data from 19861987 and 2004 and bicycle counts over 25 years and iii) a value of time survey of Stockholm cyclists including questions of exercise habits. Findings Additional benefits in appraisal from reduced car traffic and improved health seem to be small. Given bicyclists’ high values of time and low investment costs, bicycling investments are still likely to be socially beneficial. The conflicting bicycling trends can be explained by i) increased road congestion and improved bicycle infrastructure, ii) increased visibility of bicyclists generating a ‘positive spiral’ iii) increased interest in physical fitness and changes in the relative prices of cars versus central residences turn cycling into a highstatus mode, iv) in peripheral areas, increasing distances and less dense land use patterns decrease cycling levels. Practical implications: The results underscore the need for dense, mixeduse spatial planning and ‘smart’ marketing using the effects of cyclist visibility to reinforce the ‘status’ of cycling.

Properties of Internet and Telephone Data Collection Methods in a Stated Choice Value of Time Study Context

We analyze Internet and telephone Stated Choice (SC) survey methods in the context of the Swedish value of time study 2008. In this study, extensive piloting and follow up surveys was undertaken to ...

Within-Individual Variation in Preferences Equity Effects of Congestion Charges

The purpose of this research was to explore how the values of travel time (VTT) and preferences for different modes vary within individuals compared with the variation between observed trips. With 6-week revealed preference panel data and stated preference data from a mode choice context, both collected in Switzerland, a revealed–stated preference logit mode choice model was estimated. The model was applied to simulate how VTT and change in consumer surplus vary across trips within and between individuals over the 6 weeks in response to a hypothetical congestion-charging scheme. The variation in VTT arising from income differences was found to be substantially smaller than the variation in VTT between trips. Moreover, the variability in VTT averaged over all trips within each individual was considerably smaller than the variability in VTT for all observed trips. Therefore, the assumption that variation in VTT between observed trips reflects the variation in the average VTT between individuals, which is usually made in equity analyses, will overstate the between-individual variation. The results suggest that if intra-individual variation in preferences is not taken into account, the negative equity effects of congestion charges are likely to be overestimated.

Should values of time be differentiated

ABSTRACT We explore the issue of differentiating the valuation of travel time savings (VTTS) in transport cost-benefit analysis, summarising and discussing theories forming the basis for arguments for and against VTTS differentiation. We stress some important implications, insights and consequences of different assumptions relating to these theories, many of which we feel have been underappreciated in much of the CBA literature and practice. We derive a welfare rule including a social cost for monetary redistributions and show the implications for how the VTTS can be defined in different choice situations. Crucially, the applicable VTTS definition depends on whether travel costs (fares) are under public control and to whom benefits accrue in the long run. In some choice situations, the VTTS should be controlled for differences in income, but it is important to always take into account differences in marginal utilities of time (e.g. across travel time components, modes and trip purposes). Using Swedish data, we show that controlling the VTTS for income differences changes the VTTS only slightly; the variation in VTTS across modes, trip lengths, trip purposes apparently stems primarily from differences in marginal utilities of time rather than income.

Should buses still be subsidized in Stockholm

Many public transport services are heavily subsidized. One of the main justifications of this is the expected beneficial effect on road congestion. Stockholm introduced congestion pricing in 2006 and the effects on car and public transport demand were carefully monitored. This change in prices provides unique estimates on price- and cross-price elasticities. This paper uses these data to model the optimal pricing, frequency, bus size and number of bus lanes for a corridor in the presence of congestion pricing of cars. Results show that the subsidies for peak bus trips are indeed too high. However, the major welfare benefits of the reform are due to a decrease in frequencies during the off-peak period and the use of larger buses.