COMSUMER BEHAVIOR, TRANSPORT MODE CHOICE AND VALUE OF TIME: SOME MICRO-ECONOMIC MODELS

The report discusses to what extent micro-economic models of consumer behaviour can contribute to the understanding of the fundamental nature of the travel decisions of individuals in the consumptive sphere. Travel requires consumption of goods (and/or services) and of time. Therefore the models of this paper take explicity into account the problem of the allocation of travel time among the various activities which enter into the utility function of the consumer. The consumer is considered as a production unit of consumption activities which require two types of imputs: goods (or services) and time. Hence he maximizes his utility function under two constraints budget constraint and a time constraint. A fundamental innovation of the models of this paper is that they make a distinction between the utility of time as an input in the production of a given consumption activity and the dissatisfaction which results from the circumstances under which the time required to produce that given activity must be spent. Although the models developed may provide information on the three main travel decisions of individuals (trip production trip distribution and modal choice), emphasis will be placed on information about the nature of modal choice and its determinants. Therefore, an important objective of this paper is to determine the possible contribution of micro-economic theory to the value of travel time savings. /TRRL/