Thesis (M.S.)--University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2008. / Description based on contents viewed May 30, 2008; title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references (p. 74-79).

published_or_final_version / Transport Policy and Planning / Master / Master of Arts in Transport Policy and Planning

Thesis (M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering)--University of California, Davis, 2007. / Text document in PDF format. Title from PDF title page (viewed on August 28, 2009). "Received by ITS-Davis: November 2007"--Publication detail webpage. Includes bibliographical references (p. 110-115).

The conversion of high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes to high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes is currently being implemented in metro Atlanta on a demonstration basis and is under consideration for more widespread adoption throughout the metro region. Further conversion of HOV lanes to HOT lanes is a major policy decision that depends on knowledge of the likely impacts, including the equity of the new HOT lane. Rather than estimating these impacts using modeling or surveys, this study collects revealed preference data in the form of observed vehicle license plate data and vehicle occupancy data from users of the HOV corridor. Building on a methodology created in Spring 2011, researchers created a new methodology for matching license plate data to vehicle occupancy data that required extensive post-processing of the data. The new methodology also presented an opportunity to take an in-depth look at errors in both occupancy and license plate data (in terms of data collection efforts, processing, and the vehicle registration database). Characteristics of individual vehicles were determined from vehicle registration records associated with the license plate data collected during AM and PM peak periods immediately prior to the HOV lanes conversion to HOT lanes. More than 70,000 individual vehicle license plates were collected for analysis, and over 3,500 records are matched to occupancy values. Analysis of these data have shown that government and commercial vehicle were more prevalent in the HOV lane, while hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles were much less common in either lane than expected. Vehicle occupancy data from the first four quarters of data collection were used to create the distribution of occupancy on the HOV and general purpose lane, and then the matched occupancy and license plate data were examined. A sensitivity analysis of the occupancy data established that the current use of uncertain occupancy values is acceptable and that bus and vanpool occupancy should be considered when determining the average occupancy of all vehicles on the HOV lane. Using a bootstrap analysis, vehicle values were compared to vehicle occupancy values and the results found that there is no correlation between vehicle value and vehicle occupancy. A conclusions section suggests possible impacts of the findings on policy decisions as Georgia considers expanding the HOT network. Further research using these data, and additional data that will be collected after the HOT lane opens, will include emissions modeling and a study of changes in vehicle characteristics associated with the HOT lane conversion.

No description available.

Thesis (M.C.R.P.)--California Polytechnic State University, 2010. / Mode of access: Internet. Title from PDF title page; viewed on April 13, 2010. Major professor: Cornelius Nuworsoo, Ph.D., AICP. "Presented to the faculty of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo." "In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree [of] Master of City and Regional Planning in College of Architecture." "March 2010." Includes bibliographical references (p. 59-60).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Texas at Arlington, 2009.

Master of Science

Travelers' value of travel time savings (VTTS) are often used to estimate the benefits of transportation facilities, including managed lanes (MLs). With various eligibility criteria and time of day pricing on the MLs, the VTTS estimation is complicated. This is evident by the underestimation of VTTS on MLs in many of the previous studies. This study investigates stated preference (SP) survey design strategies and differentiating the VTTS for ordinary and some common urgent situations faced by the travelers in an attempt to improve on VTTS estimation on MLs. This study used three different survey design strategies (including a D-efficient design) in an internet based survey of Katy Freeway travelers. It was found that a random attribute level generation strategy, where the VTTS presented in the alternative was adjusted based on the answer to a previous SP question, performs better than the other two designs with respect to VTTS estimation and other survey design efficiency criteria. The analysis to differentiate the VTTS for ordinary and urgent trips was carried out using the state of art in the mixed logit model estimation. It was found that travelers value their travel time savings much more when facing most of these urgent situations rather than ordinary situations. Both peak and off-peak period travelers' VTTS were also found to be significantly greater when on urgent trips. Survey design attribute level ranges were found to significantly affect the VTTS estimation. Further, in order to understand the policy implications of these findings it was demonstrated that classifying all trips as ordinary can significantly underestimate the VTTS benefits offered by the MLs. Additionally, the VTTS of any urgent trips would be greatly underestimated. The study also demonstrated that many of the low and medium income group travelers on urgent trips can have VTTS greater than that of the highest VTTS traveler from the high income group on an ordinary trip. These findings have significant policy implications since the benefits of MLs (and of most transportation investments) are primarily derived from travel time savings. Underestimating the VTTS and hence the benefits for MLs can result in reducing the likelihood of funding such facilities. This study provides an important first step in the proper estimation of these benefits by suggesting modifications to SP surveys to better capture the influence of urgent trips on the value of a ML facility.

High-Occupancy toll (HOT) lanes allow lower-occupant vehicles (LOVs) to use a HOV lane for a fee, while maintaining free travel to qualifying HOVs. HOT lanes are gaining interest throughout the country as a strategy for meeting multiple performance objectives in congested urban freeway corridors. Currently there are ten fully operational HOT lanes around the country in seven different states and this research examined the nine of them (excluding I-35 W). Even with only a handful of operational HOT lane projects, there is great diversity in terms of HOT lane design and operations. With HOT lane implementation there are many issues, including: toll rates, vehicle occupancy requirement, number of access points, and safety. This research examined (i) the different factors which lead to the development of the HOT lanes in their respective corridors (ii) the objectives of the HOT lanes (iii) changes made in the corridor due to HOT lane implementation (iv) the different impacts of the HOT lanes and (v) the extent to which the objectives of the HOT lanes were achieved. Using three pairs of HOT lanes with similar design and operational characteristics, comparisons were made to examine the impacts of the similar HOT lanes in two different corridors. With the strict registration requirement for HOV3+ on the I-95 Express Lanes there were indications that some carpoolers broke up in to lower occupancy vehicles. Tolled access for HOV2s on I-95 as well as the SR 91 Express Lanes resulted in lower usage of the Express Lanes by the HOV2s (fewer than 30 percent of the total corridor HOV2s) as compared to a conventional HOV lane (60 percent) where HOV2 access is free. The effect of availability of transit on the HOT lanes can also be seen from SR 91 as compared to I-95. On SR 91, the Express bus does not use the Express Lanes and there was almost no change in its ridership after the Express Lanes were implemented. However, on I-95, the Express bus uses the Express Lanes and travel time of buses decreased by 17 minutes due to Express Lanes implementation. The Express bus ridership also increased by 30 percent. On the SR167 and I-25 HOT lanes, the exogenous factors like gas prices and economic recession seemed to influence the usage of the HOT lanes. In both the HOT Lanes, carpool usage was positively correlated to the gasoline prices. On I-25, the increasing unemployment rate coincided with the decreasing toll paying travelers. On SR 167 there were also indications of mode shifts among the transit, carpool and toll paying SOVs due to fluctuating gas prices. With declining gas prices, the transit and carpool usage went down while toll paying users increased. An inverse relationship between the convenience of access points and the safety perceived by the HOT lane users was found. For example, I-15 Express Lanes in Salt Lake City reduced the access points from unrestricted with the previous HOV lanes to limited with the Express Lanes. As a result, more predictable merging led to an increase in the perceived safety of the Express lanes as well as the speed of the corridor. On the other hand, some carpoolers mentioned not using the Express Lanes anymore because of access inconvenience. The access inconvenience was also mentioned by previous carpoolers in HOV lanes on I-95 as one of the reasons for not using the Express Lanes. These findings underscore the importance of outreach programs during the planning process of the HOT lanes to minimize the confusion among the previous users of the HOV lanes and spreading awareness among them regarding the increased safety benefits.