Work

Travel Mode Choices in a Greening Market: The Impact of Electric Vehicles and Prior Investments

Year: 2021

Type: article

Abstract: Through a choice experiment conducted among 995 Swiss respondents, we studied the linkages between prior investment decisions and the choice of travel mode. Our experimental design and empirical framework aimed to identify the impact of electric vehicles (EVs) and to test for two behavioral deviations from rationally optimal usage. Prior investment in a car or public transport pass could be used ex ante as a commitment device for overcoming self-control issues, or could affect mode choices ex post through the regret effect of sunk costs. We found no evidence to support the sunk cost hypothesis, but our findings provided partial evidence in favor of commitment mechanisms. A prior investment decision decreased the consumer’s responsiveness to variation of travel time. However, such commitments did not seem to influence responses to changes in marginal travel costs. Further, we found that EV adoption in the experiment did not result in a significant step-change in hypothetical usage patterns above rational marginal cost reactions. Our results thus reinforced the importance of financial incentives in policies aimed at a behavioral change in travel mode choices.

Source: Transportation Research Record Journal of the Transportation Research Board

DOI: 10.1177/03611981211025279

Authors: Jeremy van Dijk, Mehdi Farsi, Sylvain Weber

Institution: University of Neuchâtel

Language: English

Topic: Transportation Planning and Optimization

Subfield: Transportation

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Sustainable cities and communities, Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,000