Sustainable Urban Policies for Developing Countries by Integrating Center-Based Telecommuting with Transit and Road Pricing

Abstract

This study investigates the suitability of integrating telecommuting with transit and road pricing for reducing traffic congestion and air pollution in developing countries. The application of disaggregate modeling to estimate the impacts of transportation policies—for instance, the reduction of vehicle kilometers of travel and air pollution levels—is the principal motivation for this study. First, a nested logit (NL) model was developed to investigate household travel behavior linked to vehicle ownership, mode choice, and trip-sharing attributes. The nest structure consists of two levels; the upper level characterizes car-owning, motorcycle-owning, and no-vehicle-owning choices, whereas the lower level represents household-related mode choices. Second, the estimated NL model is applied to the analysis of policies related to center-based telecommuting, transit, and road pricing. Several hypothetical satellite offices outside the central business district are considered to analyze the travel behavior associated with telecommuting. The new locations for the satellite offices were chosen on the basis of travel convenience and compatibility with the current road network. With center-based telecommuting as the base policy, several policies were investigated by combining the base policy with transit and road pricing. The policy impacts, including the reduction of vehicle kilometers of travel and air pollution, were estimated by using the Bangkok, Thailand, metropolitan region as a case study.