Evaluating private car users’ preference to congestion pricing: A study on trip cancellation behavior

Abstract

People show different behaviors when facing congestion pricing policy. A literature review reveals that the variables affecting behaviors such as trip cancellation in the case of the implementation of transportation demand management (TDM) policies have received less attention. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the effects of travelers’ characteristics, citizens’ attitudes towards TDM policies, socioeconomic variables, and five TDM policies on trip cancellation behavior among private car users entering congestion charge zones. The statistical population contained 2256 participants; each participant answered six scenarios resulting in 13,536 observations. The use of Stated Preference method is employed to identify the preferences of citizens of Shiraz as a case study. The binary logit model indicated that travelers who had to make essential trips would be less likely to cancel their trips. Also, those who strongly agreed with the idea that congestion pricing could restrict their travel mode choice and those who strongly disagreed that congestion pricing could reduce traffic congestion would be most likely to cancel their trips compared to people with other attitudes. In addition, every minute increase in the time spent in congestion charge zones could decrease the travelers’ tendency to cancel their trips by 0.13%. Likewise, every 10,000 Rials ($0.09) increase in congestion charge could increase the probability of trip cancellation by 0.31%.