Values of Travel Time Savings UK

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES

Values of time for use in modelling and appraisal are informed by three sets of considerations - evidence, policy, and practicality. The evidence may be theoretical or empirical in nature: while in some cases values of travel time savings (VTTS) can be derived on the basis of theoretical reasoning, it is more often the case that theory alone gives no guide to the relevant VTTS, and a mix of theoretical and empirical approaches is required. In relation to policy, Governments may choose to apply VTTS in particular ways for the evaluation of public projects. The outstandig example in the UK is the use of a single standard value of non- work time savings in evaluation of public projects, despite an acceptance that VTTS varies with socio-economic characteristics. Finally, with respect to practicality, Government must ensure that official procedures are practical and cost-effective for the use to which they will be put.

The current study begins by considering the evidence. As a stepping stone to writing this report, we produced six interim working papers which are referred to at relevant points. A list of these working papers, which are all available as ITS Working Papers, is given in Appendix A. An earlier version of the summary of the evidence was produced in August 2001, and on the basis of this, Dr Denvil Coombe was commissioned to consider the feasibility of implementing the findings from the evidence. A seminar for experts was held at the Department in December 2001, and Dr Coombe's report has been submitted to the department. As a result of that seminar, various issues came to light which have necessitated further investigations of the data, and this Report takes account of these, with the detailed additional work reported in Appendices. In the later chapters of this Report, we make recommendations in relation to policy and practicality, in the light of the revised evidence, and the conclusions from Dr Coombe's work. The layout of the report is as follows. Chapter 2 provides some background discussion of VTTS with special relation to the UK experience, and describes the main aims of the study. Chapter 3 discusses the VTTS for employers' business travel, including freight transport. Chapter 4 is concerned with the relationship between the VTTS and the sign and size of the time savings. Our preferred approach for the value of non-work time savings is set out for car users in Chapter 5, and in Chapter 6, for public transport users. Then in Chapter 7, we construct a bridge between the empirical results and their use in evaluation. In Chapter 8, we consider. against theow and evidence, the case for the standard value of non-working time in evaluation and for varikons in the VTTS by journey length and\mode of travel.Finally, in Chapter 9, we make recommendations for revisions to the values in the Transport Economics Note.