Waiting for the bus
Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Date
2004
Subject Area
mode - bus
Abstract
In a natural experiment, college students riding public transit to UCLA were presented with the opportunity to pay for time savings. They could pay 75¢ to travel right away, or wait an average of 5.3 minutes for a free ride. Eighty-six percent of riders chose to wait rather than pay. Their behavior suggests that the disutility of time spent waiting for a free ride is less than $8.50 per hour. Riders overestimated their wait time by a factor of two when it was imposed by the transit system, but accurately estimated their wait time when they chose to wait for the free bus ride.
Rights
Permission to publish the abstract given by the Journal of Public Transportation.
Recommended Citation
Hess, D. B., Brown, J., & Shoup, D. (2004). Waiting for the bus. Journal of Public Transportation, 7(4), 67-84.
