Abstract
Based on a time-use model with a sound theoretical basis and carefully collected data for Austria, the value of leisure (VoL) for different population segments has been estimated. Through the combination of these results with mode-specific values of travel time savings from a related study based on the same data, the first mode-specific values of time assigned to travel (VTAT) were calculated. Data was collected using a Mobility-Activity-Expenditure Diary, a novel survey format which gathers all activities, expenditures, and travel decisions from the same individuals for 1 week in a diary-based format. The average VoL is 8.17 €/h, which is below the mean wage of 12.14 €/h, indicating that the value of work is, on average, negative. Regarding the reliability of the VoL, we show its sensitivity to the variance of working time in a sample, something that has been ignored in previous studies and could be used to avoid inadequate segmentation. We controlled this effect in the analysis of the heterogeneity of the VoL across the population by estimating the parameters from the total (unsegmented) dataset with single interaction terms. We find that the VTAT is strictly negative for walking, predominantly negative for cycling and car, and predominantly positive for public transport with 0.27 €/h on average. The positive VTAT for public transport is a strong indication for the importance of travel conditions, in turn suggesting that improvements in travel conditions of public transport might be as important as investing in shorter travel times.
Highlights
Jara-Díaz and Guevara (2003) highlighted that a person who makes a travel decision maximizes her utility in this particular choice, and in the surrounding timeexpenditure space
value of time assigned to travel (VTAT) have been obtained by comparing the value of leisure (VoL) with mode-specific values of travel time savings (VTTS) from a related study based on the same data source (Schmid et al 2018)
This is considerably less than the average wage rate of 12.14 €/h; the result is a negative value of time assigned to work (VTAW) of − 3.97 €/h, indicating that time assigned to work is valued negatively on average and people work mainly for the salary
Summary
Jara-Díaz and Guevara (2003) highlighted that a person who makes a travel decision maximizes her utility in this particular choice, and in the surrounding timeexpenditure space. Following DeSerpa (1973), the authors show that estimating the VoL permits a deeper examination of the value of travel time savings (VTTS) obtained from travel choice models because the VTTS equals the VoL minus the value of time assigned to travel (VTAT). The intuition behind this is that the VTTS summarizes the value of the liberated time (opportunity cost of travel), while the VTAT represents the ‘loss’ when travel time is reduced—which is why it relates to travel conditions. Flügel (2014) provided a summary of why public transport travellers may perceive travel as more relaxed than car travellers
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