The short-run impact of gas prices on toll road use.

Details

• Creators:
  Burris, Mark W. ; Huang, Chao
• Corporate Creators:
  Texas Transportation Institute. University Transportation Center for Mobility
• Corporate Contributors:
  United States. Department of Transportation. Research and Innovative Technology Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Toll roads
  • Road pricing
  • Gasoline
  • Prices
  • Travel demand
  • Gas prices, toll road use, travel demand
  • elasticity
• Publication/ Report Number:
  UTCM 09-07-03
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Corporate Publisher:
  United States. Dept. of Transportation. Research and Innovative Technology Administration
• Abstract:
  "One of the primary functions of transportation planning is to predict future travel ; behavior. Using estimated travel patterns, planners can then help decision makers ; select the array of projects that will best suit the needs of their community. Travel ; behavior is a function of many variables, with cost being among the most important. ; Recent fluctuations in the price of gas provide an excellent opportunity to observe the ; impact of the price of gas on travel behavior. This project goes a step beyond looking ; at the elasticity of travel with respect to gas price by examining how recent changes in ; gas prices have impacted travel on specific facilities: toll facilities. Data from around ; the US was used to examine how traffic levels on toll roads have been affected by ; fluctuations in gas prices over the last several years. This study developed models ; that account for the many other exogenous factors influencing toll road use (such as ; local economy, population, and toll rates), and provide an elasticity of toll road ; demand with respect to gas price independent of those other factors. This study will ; provide planners and toll road authorities with valuable information on how travelers ; react to increasing cost of travel when already selecting a mode with an added cost ; (the toll). The research findings indicated that travel demand elasticity estimates with ; respect to gas price were inelastic and mostly negative. Elasticities found here for the ; period from 2000 to 2010 ranged from −0.36 to +0.14, similar to those found in the ; literature for non-toll facilities. However, the average value of the elasticities found ; here were much smaller (closer to −0.06) than those found for non-toll facilities."
  More +
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  DTRT06-G-0044
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/23518/dot_23518_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 3.71 MB]
• Collection(s):
  University Transportation Centers ; US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:09f4aadaf38c617e2bd2cded38af094b1669542a079e769272c8f8fed666c2a85036e0faff562b1060dd4dfc38663afe033ce66703ef6c3f85b31c055fed4d13