Considering Indicators of External Costs in a Transportation Mode Choice Model

Abstract

Although transportation is vital to satisfying human needs and sustaining economic activity, it is linked with negative side effects, including emissions, noise, accidents and congestion. The negative costs resulting from them, also called external costs of transportation, are very often neglected in our everyday mobility decisions. This paper proposes a simple mode choice model incorporating external cost indicators based on recent estimates from Munich, Germany. The respondents of a stated preference survey were asked to choose between transportation modes in theoretical scenarios, where indicators of external costs, numerical or schematic, were shown as mode attributes. The results of a multinomial logit model show that indicators of external costs can influence travel behaviour, although other variables, such as the ownership of mobility tools and the sociodemographic background, also explain mode choices. Despite the limitations, this paper provides initial insights into modelling travel decisions under external cost pricing indicators.