Estimating intercity rail passengers’ willingness to pay for shifts in departure times in a competing rail market

Abstract

Willingness to pay (WTP) figures for various characteristics of the transport supply are key parameters for travel demand forecast models and cost-benefit analysis. In the case of intercity rail, such characteristics are mostly travel time, departure/arrival time and comfort/service levels. If substantial literature exists concerning the valuation of travel time savings, little is known about the application of the scheduling model to intercity rail. Using a stated-preference survey on certain Swedish intercity lines, we applied the scheduling model to determine the WTP for displacements in departure time (scheduled delays). The figures obtained highlight several elements. First, the diversity of our results show that departure time flexibility highly depends on trip purpose and traveller’s socioeconomic