We have established new values of time (VOTs) and values of travel time reliability (VORs) for use in cost-benefit analysis (CBA) of transport projects in The Netherlands. This was the first national study in The Netherlands (and one of the first world-wide) to investigate these topics empirically in a joint framework.Stated preference (SP) questionnaires were designed for interviewing travellers, where the hypothetical alternatives were described in terms of travel time, travel costs and travel time reliability, the latter being presented to the respondents in the form of five possible travel times having equal probability.For passenger transport, we first collected interviews using an existing internet panel. Additional data collection recruitment was done by asking travellers at petrol stations/service areas, parking garages, stations, bus stops, airports and ports to participate in the survey. One important conclusion is that the SP survey using members of this internet panel leads to substantially lower VOTs than the SP survey with en-route recruitment, probably because of self-selection bias in the internet panel.We estimated discrete choice models in which the values of time differ between trips with different time and costs levels, different time and costs changes offered in the SP, and different observed characteristics of the respondents (e.g. education, income, age, household composition). By using a panel latent class model, we also account for unobserved differences between respondents in the value of time and for repeated measurements/panel effects. The reference values of time and the reference reliability ratios were estimated on the 2011 sample only, but the effect of time and cost level, time and cost changes offered and socio-economic attributes was estimated on both the 2009 and 2011 samples.

This paper discusses the methods used in a study on the values of time and reliability in freight transport in the Netherlands. SP surveys were carried out among more than 800 shippers and carriers. A novel feature is that both for the value of time and reliability two additive components are distinguished: a transport cost and a cargo component. Specific instructions were given to make sure that the carriers provide the former and shippers that contract out the latter component. The resulting values that will be used in CBA in The Netherlands are presented and compared against the international literature. Highlights Two components in the VOT and VOR are distinguished: the transport cost and the cargo component. Specific instructions are given to shippers that contract out and carriers in the SP so that their values of time and reliability will be the cargo and the transport cost component respectively and become additive.  Presentation of reliability in the form of five equi-probable transport and arrival times.  Estimation of a VOR in using the standard deviation of transport time in the utility function, which has been uncommon in freight transport, but can relatively easily be included in forecasting models.  New SP context for sea and inland waterway transport.  The data set used possibly is the largest SP survey carried out in freight transport (in terms of number of interviews).  Presentation of new values for The Netherlands (which other countries can use for comparison, benchmarking or even value transfer) and comparison with the existing literature.

This paper describes the results of a research project that aimed to establish passenger values of crowding on public transport services in the Paris region. Qualitative research, stated preference (SP) experiments, and passenger counts and surveys were conducted to obtain such values. A simple method was developed to quantify the passenger benefits of specific public transport projects aiming to reduce crowding on existing lines. This method was applied in a case study to the regional rail (RER) RER Line E extension project. With regard to the value of crowding, the research indicated that the perceived disutility of crowding could be more accurately described as a constant disutility per trip than as a travel time multiplier. However, for ease of application often the multiplier formulation was preferred. When the value of crowding was expressed as a travel time multiplier, values were obtained ranging from 1.0 when all passengers could be seated to 1.7 for standing bus passengers when the vehicles reached their maximum capacity. Also for seated passengers, multipliers well above 1.0 were observed for (highly) congested vehicles (maximum value 5 1.5 for bus passengers). These values were applied in a case study that estimated the effects of an extension of the regional rail line RER E in the western direction, partially running parallel to the existing RER Line A. This extension would reduce the current (very) high crowding levels on the RER A and B lines to more moderate levels and generate benefits of about �23 million per year.

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This is a repository copy of Value of Travel Time as a Function of Comfort.