Waiting for the Bus

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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of public transportation 2004-12, Vol.7 (4), p.67-84
Main Authors: Hess, Daniel Baldwin, Brown, Jeffrey, Shoup, Donald
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary: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.
ISSN:1077-291X
2375-0901
DOI:10.5038/2375-0901.7.4.4