Stefanie Peer

Long-Run vs. Short-Run Perspectives on Consumer Scheduling: Evidence from a Revealed-Preference Experiment Among Peak-Hour Road Commuters

Earlier studies on scheduling behavior have mostly ignored that consumers have more flexibility to adjust their schedule in the long run than in the short run. We introduce the distinction between long‐run choices of travel routines and short‐run choices of departure times, using data from a real‐life peak avoidance experiment. We find that participants value travel time higher in the long‐run context, supposedly because changes in travel time can be exploited better through the adjustment of routines. Schedule delays are valued higher in the short run, reflecting that scheduling restrictions are typically more binding in the short run.

A pooled RP/SP mode, route and destination choice model to capture the heterogeneity of mode and user type effects

1 This paper presents the first representative estimates of the marginal willingness to pay 2 for a reduction in travel time (VTTS) for Austria, being of great importance for transport 3 policy appraisals. The main focus is to investigate mode and user-type effects using a 4 pooled RP/SP modeling approach for mode, route and destination choice data, revealing 5 average VTTS estimates for car (9.90 Euro/h), public transport (3.90 Euro/h), bike (7.30 6 Euro/h) and walk (11.40 Euro/h). 7 The only user characteristic being able to decompose this large difference in average 8 VTTS between car and public transport into a smaller part, that can be purely attributed 9 to the mode-specific valuation of in-vehicle travel time, is urban residential location area: 10 When controlling for it, the VTTS difference becomes 5.5 Euro/h, which, compared to 11 the total average VTTS difference of about 6 Euro/h, is still relatively high. 12 As our results indicate that in the case of Austria, characteristics of the mode are 13 more important than characteristics of the users, and that the conditions of travel time 14 spent in public transport are perceived as more pleasant than in a car, the investigation 15 of the value of time assigned to travel (VTAT) is a fundamental next research step. 16

A Practical Method to estimate the Benefits of Improved Network Reliability: An Application to Departing Air Passengers

This paper develops and applies a practical method to estimate the benefits of improved reliability of road networks. We present a general methodology to estimate the scheduling costs due to travel time variability for car travel. In contrast to existing practical methods, we explicitly consider the effect of travel time variability on departure time choices. We focus on situations when only mean delays are known, which is typically the case when standard transport models are used. We first show how travel time variability can be predicted from mean delays. We then estimate the scheduling costs of travellers, taking into account their optimal departure time choice given the estimated travel time variability. We illustrate the methodology for air passengers traveling by car to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. We find that on average planned improvements in network reliability only lead to a small reduction in access costs per trip in absolute terms, mainly because most air passengers drive to the airport outside peak hours, when travel time variability tends to be low. However, in relative terms the reduction in access costs due to the improvements in network reliability is substantial. In our case we find that for every 1 Euro reduction in travel time costs, there is an additional cost reduction of 0.7 Euro due to lower travel time variability, and hence lower scheduling costs. Ignoring the benefits from improved reliability may therefore lead to a severe underestimation of the total benefits of infrastructure improvements.

The potential role of employers in promoting sustainable mobility in rural areas: evidence from Eastern Austria

ABSTRACT In industrialized countries, mobility represents one of the most important sources of emissions. Most research on promoting sustainable, climate-friendly modes of transportation has focused on urban areas. Rural areas—although characterized by high dependency on individual car ownership and usage—have received less attention. This article explores the potential role of rural employers in supporting sustainable alternatives to commuting by (single-occupied) motorized vehicles among their employees. We conduct a collective case study that considers five employers located in Eastern Austria (Burgenland), drawing from multiple data sources including structured surveys, expert interviews, focus groups, and site visits. Our analysis shows that employers have little incentive to implement measures that foster sustainable mobility among their employees. On the one hand, the costs accruing to employers for implementing such measures tend to exceed the corresponding benefits by a significant margin (unlike in urban areas where significant cost reductions can arise for employers). On the other hand, also employees generally exhibit little demand for such measures. We conclude that both from a societal and a business perspective, it is not efficient to promote sustainable mobility in rural areas via employers.