Public Perception and Willingness to Pay for High-Occupancy Toll (HOT) Lanes in the United Arab Emirates: Questionnaire-Based Survey

The present paper aims at investigating the public perception of drivers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to the implementation of high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes in major freeways. A questionnaire-based survey was developed and distributed to drivers in the UAE in order to acquire an indication regarding the public's willingness to use and pay (WTP) for utilizing HOT lanes. A total of 561 responses were received and analyzed in order to identify the relationships between different characteristics and the public's WTP. Advanced statistical analysis by means of the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test showed that age, gender, average monthly income, and trips frequency significantly affected the WTP of the public under two conditions: 1) Normal driving conditions, and 2) Driving under emergency conditions. However, correlation analysis showed that only age, average monthly income, and trips frequency had strong correlations with the public's WTP for HOT lanes. However, none of the parameters had significant correlations with the public's WTP for HOT lanes under emergency conditions, as all respondents opted to pay high amounts in emergency situations. Furthermore, a linear model was developed through regression analysis which estimates the WTP of drivers based on age, average monthly income, and trips frequency between emirates. Overall, based on the results of the present study, it can be concluded that there is a positive perception from the public regarding the implementation of HOT lanes in the UAE.