Evaluation of Value of Time of metro users: Case of Delhi Metro

Abstract

India is a developing economy with high rates of urbanization. With increased urbanization, the limits of cities are expanding and in order to connect major cities with nearby areas, various transportation efforts have been taken by government. With increased economy the income levels of people are increasing and so is their vehicle ownership. As more private vehicle occupies the roads, it not only contributes to high levels of congestion, but also contributes towards carbon emissions and fuel costs. The solution to combat this problem is the provision of public transport service but due to various shortcomings of public transport systems in terms of overcrowding, longer travel times, lack of last mile connectivity, discomfort and longer waiting times, public transport becomes undesirable for many people. This results in vicious circle of lower than expected ridership, increased operating costs, fare hikes and mode shift of people to cheaper modes. So it is important to understand that in order to make the use of public transports desirable among people, it important to record their perception towards the current service and provides solutions to the issues pertaining with them. Travel time and travel cost are major determinants of people‟s travel behaviour apart from comfort and can have significant effect on travel decision of people. The Marginal Cost Productivity and opportunity costs have great relevance in this decision making because according to the former theory, the travel time saved from travel can be utilised in production of more goods while latter suggests that all people have different income and household characteristics which determines the percentage of expenditure one can do for traveling. It is important to analyse travel time and travel costs associated with a public transport for its evaluation in order to make necessary improvements to eliminate the issues in the existing service. This can be done by evaluating the Value of Travel Time associated with the public transport and analysing the existing issues in the service using the perception of current users. This study focuses on „Evaluating Vale of Time for metro users in Delhi‟. For conducting the study first the literature review is done for studying the concept of Value of Time and factors that affects Value of Time. Socio-economic characteristics like age, income level and trip characteristics like vi trip length, trip purpose, and travel time travel cost etc. affect travel behaviour of users. First the metro line 2-Yellow is selected for the study because it is the busiest metro line and connects the major parts of Delhi. It the one of the longest metro line with distance of 49.3 km. The issue faced in the metro line is of high level of congestion during peak hours and long in-vehicle time. Thus there is need to access people‟s perception of service and travel characteristics to solve the issues they are facing with current problem. The surveys are conducted at the metro stations with highest share of passengers in Yellow line and analysis is done in two stages. First stage consists of analysis of the trip characteristics and issues faced by the people in current services. Most of the respondents have monthly income more than Rs. 30000 and use metro for daily or commute for work purpose. The issues are assed by factor analysis which brings out that long line-haul time and crowding are major issues in the current service. The stage two analyse the preference for people towards choices of service with reduced travel time and increased travel cost based on the stated preference survey responses. About 45% are willing to shift to a service with decreased travel time by 10 minutes and increased travel cost by Rs.16. Then the Value of Time calculations are done for regular and improved services. It is found that Value of Time increases with service with more travel time savings. After the target users are found by comparing the change in percentage share of monthly travel cost to monthly income of respondents. The study concludes with proposal of strategies to reduce travel time of people and calculate the benefits for metro users in terms of reduced travel time and crowding in metro during peak hour and increase in fare box revenue for the metro operators.