How Much Will I Pay for Freeway Real-Time Traffic Information?

Although there is research focused on real-time traffic information, in terms of types of information, timing of provision and drivers’ acceptance, not much is related to quantifying real-time traffic information and its perceived value, i.e., amount of information and willingness to pay (WTP) for that information. In this study, freeway drivers’ preferred types of real-time traffic information and their willingness to pay for them are investigated. Due to traffic information having the property of non-market goods, a contingent valuation method is applied. A computer-aided survey was conducted in rest areas along freeways to obtain the samples needed. A Spike model is used to overcome the serious biases that would otherwise be caused by numerous zero WTPs in samples when logit and probit models are used. Finally, freeway drivers’ WTP for different types of real-time traffic information can be obtained from the estimation results. The results may be of importance in pricing different types of traffic information more realistically in the future.