Citation

Hauer E, Greenough JC. Transp. Res. A Gen. 1982; 16(3): 163-172.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1982, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/0191-2607(82)90018-8

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Part of the reason for the lack of concensus about the value of time to be used in evaluation and in the modelling of choice are the conceptual and practical difficulties surrounding common techniques for value of time estimation. A novel approach has been tried. It consists of offering subjects cash in return for the loss of a specified amount of time. The distribution of the value of time in the population from which the subjects are sampled is then estimated using the proportions of subjects accepting the offer at different levels of inducement. On the basis of 824 cash offers made to Toronto subway riders, the distribution of the value of time is obtained for a variety of conditions and factors. Among the factors examined are time of day, duration of delay, age, gender, income, time budget, trip purpose and the like. The results are illuminating. However, due to the exploratory nature of the study, no definitive statements should be made. The main shortcoming of the direct method is inherent in the interview process. It remains unclear whether the subjects decide to accept or reject the cash offer mainly on the basis of the time vs money trade-off. There is some encouragement in the consistency of results obtained. The attraction of the direct method is in its conceptual clarity and in the ability to conduct close to scientific inquiries in terms of experimental design and accuracy.