Heterogeneity in marginal value of urban mobility: evidence from a large-scale household travel survey in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area

Abstract

The value of mobility is an unresolved question in transportation economics literature. The advent of ride-hailing services and the emergence of mobility as a service (MaaS) place increased pressure on the research community to develop methods to consider this question. We provide one of the first efforts to quantify the value of mobility using a consistent econometric approach. A series of discrete choice models are estimated for car ownership and residential density choices. The decision to purchase an additional vehicle is a concrete manifestation of the marginal value of travel vis-a-vis the desire to make additional trips. The proposed framework has the benefit of employing a single utility function, thus removing the need to set a reference alternative. Models are estimated with a large household travel survey for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, which provides a close approximation to the true population. We estimate separate values of mobility by household composition, providing evidence for a high degree of heterogeneity. Results are examined in the context of MaaS and it is found that the value of mobility is much higher in suburban areas than suggested in previous research. Model results provide strong evidence for potential social exclusion with the widespread adoption of MaaS. The methods explored in this paper show great promise for quantifying the value of mobility and we present recommendations for additional research in this direction.