HOT or Not: Driver Elasticity to Price on MnPASS HOT Lanes

The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) has added MnPASS High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes on two freeway corridors. While not the first HOT lanes in the country, the MnPASS lanes are the first implementation of road pricing in Minnesota and possess a dynamic pricing schedule. Tolls charged to single occupancy vehicles (SOVs) are adjusted every three minutes according to HOT lane vehicle density. Given the infancy of systems like MnPASS, questions remain about drivers’ responses to toll prices. Three field experiments were conducted on the corridors during which prices were changed. Data from the field experiments as well as two years of toll and traffic data were analyzed to measure driver responses to pricing changes. Driver elasticity to price was positive with magnitudes less than 1.0. This positive relationship between price and demand is in contrast with the previously held belief that raising the price would discourage demand. In addition, drivers consistently paid between approximately $60-120 per hour of travel time savings, much higher than the average value of time. Reasoning for these results is discussed as well as the implications these results have on the pricing of HOT lanes.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ABE25 Congestion Pricing.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Janson, Michael
  • Levinson, David M
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 93rd Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC
  • Date: 2014-1-12 to 2014-1-16
• Date: 2014

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 19p
• Monograph Title: TRB 93rd Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Demand; Elasticity (Economics); High occupancy toll lanes; Travel time; Variable tolls
• Geographic Terms: Twin Cities Metropolitan Area (Minnesota)
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Economics; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning; I73: Traffic Control;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01517502
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 14-2218
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Mar 10 2014 9:23AM