Valuation of travel time in free-flow and congested traffic and its reliability-estimates for Czech Republic

A prerequisite for any monetary estimation of economic losses arising from traffic congestion is a reliable estimate of the value of travel time. Although the available evidence from abroad reveals significant differences in the values of individual components of time travel, specific valuations of travel time are rather rare in the Czech Republic. The aim of this paper is to expand the data base in the Czech Republic by presenting selected estimates of the travel time components for Czech drivers and passengers. Specifically, we elaborate on the value of travel time and time spent in congestion for medium-long domestic routes (represented by the Prague-Brno route). The results of our valuation study (N = 602) show that the value of travel time spent in congestion is almost twice as high as the value of travel time in free-flow traffic and suggest that the reduction of congestion and of the variation in travel time in general will bring significant economic benefits compared to shortening travel time in free-flow traffic. This evidence confirms the importance of distinguishing between different components of travel time when assessing the benefits of transport infrastructures. Importantly, our estimates of the value of travel time are much lower than those officially endorsed by Czech Ministry of Transport (MoT) for analysing benefits of new transport infrastructure.