Transport resistance factors:

time, money and effort

INSTITUUT VOOR MOBILITEIT

Transport resistance factors
§ Passenger and goods transport volume
determined by:
1. Location of activities
2. Needs of people
3. Resistance factors

§ Focus on transport resistance factors:

§ Time
§ Cost
§ Comfort
§ Safety
Transport resistance factors
§ Transport only takes place when the
efforts needed to move people or goods
from one place to another are lower than
what somebody is willing to ‘pay’
(= travel budget)

§ Reflection: What are you willing to pay to

get to your work?

§ Travel takes place when benefits > costs

(‘positive utility’ in economic terms)
Transport resistance factors
§ Impact on:
§ Decision to travel or not
§ But also on travel mode (which transport mode?)

§ Reflection: Which transport modes do you

use most frequently in your daily life?
The role of travel time
The role of travel time
§ Time of travel = transport resistance
factor
§ Time of travel from origin to destination,
including all ‘hidden’ waiting times (e.g. waiting
for the bus, waiting at traffic lights, …)

§ Subjective valuation of waiting time: not

all waiting times are perceived as
burdensome
§ (e.g. waiting in cold, rainy weather vs. in sunny
dry conditions)
The role of travel time
§ Value of time: the amount people want to
pay to save time, so that they or their goods
reach their destination faster
§ (sometimes used to calculate the cost of congestion)
Constant time budget
§ People have a limited time budget
available
§ People tend to spend a constant amount
of time per day traveling
(+/- 1.1 h/day)

§ Reflection: How much time do you spent

per day traveling?
Constant time budget
§ Given that last decades = faster transport
modes (car, HST, plane, …)
§ resulted in longer distances travelled.
§ Total number of kilometers travelled per year
still increases every year
Constant time budget
Result: increase in distances travelled

Figure: Daily distance travelled per person per day between 1800 and
2000, except walking (France)
Travel time elasticities and induced traffic
§ Elasticity measures how much a change
in one factor influences a change in
another factor
§ E.g. a travel time elasticity of -1% = an
increase in travel time of 1% results in a
decrease of -1% in kilometers travelled.
§ Elasticity:
§ In short run smaller than in large run (strong
habits and less possibilities to change behavior
in the short run)
§ Region specific: be careful in transferring to
other regions!
Travel time elasticities and induced traffic

§ Induced traffic:
§ If due to a new road construction travel times
decrease, this creates new traffic that would
not be there if the new road would not have
been built (in the order of .2 to .4)
Cross-travel time elasticities
§ How much is the demand for one mode of
transport influenced by the price/travel
time of another mode?
§ E.g. influence of increase in public transport on
car usage (typically insensitive: .05 - .2)
The role of travel cost
§ Travel cost = transport resistance factor
§ The money people are willing to spend on
travel as a proportion of their
spendable budget
Constant money cost budget
§ People have limited budget available to
spend on travel
§ People tend to spend a constant
percentage of their available income
on travel (10 - 15%)

§ Reflection: How much money do you

spent each month on traveling?
Constant money cost budget
§ Given that last decades are characterized
by reduced travel costs, this has led to
longer distances travelled
Decreasing cost of travel over time

car
Price and monetary cost elasticities
§ A price elasticity measures the
responsiveness of a price change (e.g.
price of fuel)

§ A cost elasticity measures the

responsiveness to a cost change (e.g.
cost of travel per km)
§ Long term elasticities are usually higher than short
term elasticities
Price and monetary cost elasticities
§ Example: Increasing fuel prices will result
in two phenomena:
§ In short run: reduction in fuel usage
§ In large run: purchase of more fuel efficient car

§ Consumers are typically more sensitive to

price increases than to price decreases
Examples of price elasticities
The role of effort
§ Effort = transport resistance factor
§ defined as:
§ Discomfort and physical effort
§ Reliability
§ Availability of information
§ Safety levels
§ Mental effort/strain
Effort resistance factors
§ Discomfort and physical effort in case
of public transport depends on several
aspects:
§ Quality of waiting environment
§ Quality of the vehicle / rolling stock
§ Quality of front line staff to customer
§ Crowding
§ Seat place availability
§ Quality of on board facilities
§ Cleanliness
§ Quality of interchange between modes
Effort resistance factors
§ Reliability
§ Travel time reliability = is the real travel
time according to the traveler’s expectations?
§ Relates to value of time (VOT) concept
because time loss has a ‘cost’ to the user

§ Value of Reliability (VOR): the amount a

traveler is willing to pay to make his trips more
reliable
§ In literature: women more sensitive for unreliable
travel times compared to men
Effort resistance factors
§ Availability of travel information
§ Travelers like to have accurate information
about their travel alternatives
§ Route information (choice of route)
§ Mode information:
§ fares
§ travel times
§ parking facilities
§ …

§ Having accurate information improves

reliability and reduces mental stress
Effort resistance factors
§ Safety
§ Subjective feelings of safety:
§ the feeling of safety can determine traveler’s choice
of mode (e.g. public transport)
§ Influenced by lighting, surveillance, …

§ Accident risk
§ The fear of getting involved in an accident can
determine a traveler’s mode choice (e.g. not to send
children to school by bicycle)
Effort resistance factors
§ Mental strain, stress
§ Collectivity of mental efforts or stress
associated with a certain trip, e.g.
§ Feeling of no control
§ Discomfort of crowded train
§ Unpredicatability

§ Typically car users report higher levels of

stress than public transport commuters
Resistance factors in the goods transport sector
§ Transit time:
§ the sooner that products reach their
destination, the better
§ VOT different for different types of products
(e.g. perishable versus non-perishable)

§ Transit monetary cost

§ Relatively insensitive (transit cost in most case
only small part of total product cost)
§ Impact on mode choice (ship, train, truck, …)
§ Different possible reactions: more efficient
loading, more fuel efficient vehicles, reducing
empty runs, …
Resistance factors in the goods transport sector
§ Transport service quality
§ Flexibility of service, reliability, safety, travel
route, …
Transport resistance factors:
Take home messages

INSTITUUT VOOR MOBILITEIT

Take home messages

q Important transport resistance factors for

passenger transport are travel time,
monetary costs and effort.

q Important resistance factors for freight

transport are transit time, monetary costs
and transport services
Take home messages

q On average, people tend to keep their travel

time budget constant.
q Thus, people tend to exchange lower transport
travel times for more kilometres travelled, and not
to spend the saved travel time on other activities.

(On an aggregated scale: large region or country level)

Take home messages

qTravel time and price elasticities for

passenger transport
qin the long run higher compared to short- term
elasticities.

qThis phenomenon is related to the fact that in

the long term people have more choice options
when travel times or prices change compared to
the short term, such as moving or finding
another job.
Take home messages

qIncrease of transportation monetary costs

for a certain mode results in fewer
transport and/or mode shifts.

qHowever, higher fuel prices result:

qin less road transport
qto a small extent a mode shift
qin the purchase of more fuel- efficient cars.
qBy buying more fuel- efficient cars people can avoid (a
part of) the price increase and thus can continue to
travel by car.