Determining willingness-to-pay for in-vehicle travel time of travellers in Salaya District

Abstract

© 2006 Institute of Research and Development, Suranaree University of Technology. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the willingness-to-pay (WTP) in the context of public transport planning to create a transportation mode shift in Salaya District, Nakhon Pathom Province. A survey was carried out on private and public transportation users based on the stated preference (SP) technique. A series of questionnaires was designed to test the sensitivity of 4 key attributes influencing a traveler's mode choice, i.e. fare, in-vehicle travel time, wait time, and access time. The WTP of Salaya locals was approximated at 49 baht per hour for private transport mode and 97 baht per hour for public transport mode. The WTP of the nonregistered population was 56 and 106 baht per hour for private mode and public transport mode, respectively. The WTP of visitors was 66 baht per hour for public transport mode, which is considered low compared to the average income of Nakhon Pathom. The study cannot interpret the result to conclude that the WTP for visitors is using the private transport mode as the sample size was too small and the answers lacked sufficient variation. The result of this study can be used for designing service characteristics of a new public transportation system. Moreover, it can also be used for developing seamless connectivity of public transportation networks within Salaya district.