California Partners for Advanced Transportation Technology

Travel time variability is increasingly being recognized as a major factor influencing travel decisions and, consequently, as an important performance measure in transportation management. In this research project, we examine a number of questions related to travel time variability: How should travel time variability be quantified at both the section level as well as at the route level?; How do travelers value travel time and its reliability?; How much does the travel time reliability contribute to travelers' route choices?; How much variation is there in travelers' preferences regarding the potential tradeoff between reliability and travel time itself?; How can travel time variability be incorporated into the route choice models for transportation planning purposes?; and, How can the effects of travel time reliability be incorporated in considering risk-taking behavior in route choice models? Answering these questions can help in the design and evaluation of transportation planning and managing strategies.