1. Puget Sound Traffic Choices Study Puget Sound Traffic Choices Study ITS America 2007 Annual Meeting Palm Springs, CA Matthew Kitchen Puget Sound Regional Council Michael Wieck Siemens ITS June 5, 2007

2. Puget Sound Traffic Choices Study BACKGROUND – Project Origins Destination 2030 Recommendation –Plan, design and implement a roadway pricing demonstration project prior to 2006. FHWA Value Pricing Program –Awarded $1.88 million in grant funds for the Puget Sound region study in 2002. –Supplemental funding of $600,000 in 2005.

3. Puget Sound Traffic Choices Study OVERVIEW - Study Approach The deployment of a network application of road user charging technology, using a sample of volunteer participants –Siemens ITS off-the-shelf toll system solution –GPS vehicle positioning –Cellular communication –Back Office, billing and customer service functionality The only study designed explicitly to capture behavioral response to network tolls in an experimental setting –True price incentive –Baseline and experimental treatments (tolls) –Controls for self-selection, attrition, seasonality, etc. –Time of day pricing –Multiple sources of price information (in-vehicle display, accounts, invoices)

4. Puget Sound Traffic Choices Study OVERVIEW – Contributing to the Understanding of Road User Charging –Detailed analysis of road user choice and behavior under a broadly implemented and sustained tolling treatment –Over 400 volunteer participants –Tolling on all major roads in the Puget Sound region –Tolls based on time of day and type of road –Hold harmless experimental design – travel budgets –Preliminary results show quantifiable change of driving behavior in response to tolls –Part of the ongoing development and proofing of technical applications and systems design –In-vehicle GPS-based OBU tolling –Communicating to central system via GPRS –First large-scale operational test showing the feasibility of area-wide road use and congestion charging –A pilot for identifying and understanding key policy variables and requirements

5. Puget Sound Traffic Choices Study OVERVIEW - Key Findings Core technology for satellite-based toll systems is mature Observed response of drivers to tolls empirically suggests there is a practical opportunity to reduce wasted time resources and convert them to revenues for investment. We must still demonstrate that such a charging system will be technically verifiable and legally enforceable, within bounds of what is politically acceptable. A large-scale U.S. deployment of a GPS-based tolling solution depends on a viable business model and public acceptance of underlying concepts

6. Puget Sound Traffic Choices Study OPERATION - Participant-Centered Project 275+ households 400+ vehicles Randomly selected from an enriched pool of potential participant households Each participating household was provided a unique travel endowment account, based on their baseline travel behavior Tolls were levied against this endowment account At the end of the tolling period participants were provided any remaining account balance

7. Puget Sound Traffic Choices Study OPERATION - Main System Components Comm. Server Back-up System Core System Ethernet Web PSRC Environment PSRC Access Call Center Access Participant Access GSM - GPRS GPS Office Equipment OBUs

8. Puget Sound Traffic Choices Study OPERATION - Schedule Crossover design - before and after control data System delivery Acceptance test Participant recruitment and enrollment AMMJMJASOFJDNJA 20052006 Control Experimental Treatment - Tolls Analysis  Pre- implement ation

9. Puget Sound Traffic Choices Study OPERATION - Charges Based on theoretical “economic efficient” tolls –Recognizing artificial tolling environment (no impact on ambient congestion) –Imperfect match of toll rates with conditions is desirable, generating variability for statistical modeling Research objectives require multi-dimensionality –Ideal: Variation of tolls by time of day, day of week, location, facility type, direction –Practical: Emphasizes some dimensions while collapsing others Customer: Keep it simple, simple, simple

10. Puget Sound Traffic Choices Study OPERATION – Functional Summary 450 OBU installations and removals System fully operational for over 18 months Over 270 participating households –Up to 18 months of trip data per household Hundreds of customer service calls Over 4,000 invoices distributed Over 100,000 device to central system transactions Over 750,000 individual trip records Household surveys and focus groups

11. Puget Sound Traffic Choices Study PRELIMINARY RESULTS - Theoretical Expectations Travel characteristics most likely to be affected: –Trip or tour frequency –Trip or tour route / path –VMT and travel time –Time of day of travel Effects expected to be larger for: –Home-to-work, work-to-home travel –Lower income households –Households with transit accessibility NOTE: All results are preliminary.

12. Puget Sound Traffic Choices Study PRELIMINARY RESULTS - Data Preparation NOTE: All results are preliminary. Billing system provided detailed physical and financial information on trip activity –Tolls paid, VMT by link type, travel time, speeds, etc. –GPS time and location stamps provided information for reconstructing paths, trip ends, time of travel, etc. Trip purpose and traveler demographics were appended to trip information –Trip and tour purpose had to be inferred –Tours were constructed from trip data –Any anomalous trip data had to be controlled for or repaired –Vacation periods were either reported or inferred –Household income were both reported and inferred –Trip-end activity was inferred using GIS-based employment statistics, etc.

13. Puget Sound Traffic Choices Study PRELIMINARY RESULTS - Descriptive Statistics NOTE: All results are preliminary.

14. Puget Sound Traffic Choices Study PRELIMINARY RESULTS - Selected Metrics for all Households Experimental Period as a Percent of Baseline Period NOTE: All results are preliminary. Metric home-to- work work-to- home home-to- home work-to- work Tours per week94.9% 108.0%109.6% Distance traveled per week95.8%93.5%106.0%107.8% Tour duration, including dwell time per week109.0%94.9%106.4%118.9% Segments per tour95.6%94.1%104.6%110.9% Drive time per week99.5%95.5%108.3%112.1% Tolls paid per week92.1%89.7%104.8%93.6%

15. Puget Sound Traffic Choices Study PRELIMINARY RESULTS - Implied Value of Time by Tour Purpose NOTE: All results are preliminary.

16. Puget Sound Traffic Choices Study PRELIMINARY RESULTS - Elasticity of Demand During the AM peak travel period (6 - 9 AM) –Tolls could reduce household auto trips ~10% –Tolls could reduce vehicle miles traveled ~4% During the PM peak travel period (4 - 7 PM) –Tolls could reduce household auto trips ~6% –Tolls could reduce vehicle miles traveled ~11% NOTE: All results are preliminary. Measured across all trips on all facilities; more significant reductions on roads where tolls were highest.

17. Puget Sound Traffic Choices Study PRELIMINARY RESULTS - Survey Percent of funding from direct use charges At the start of the study Percent of funding from direct use charges At the end of the study How do you think roads should be paid for? Survey responses substantiate the data results and provide evidence for a causal relationship. 70% of participants stated they changed their behavior in response to the tolls.

18. Puget Sound Traffic Choices Study PRELIMINARY RESULTS - Survey Concerned about privacy At the start of the study: 1 (low) – 7 (high) Concerned about privacy At the end of the study: 1 (low) – 7 (high) How concerned would you be about the privacy implications of a toll system that collects specific road use information for individual vehicles?

19. Puget Sound Traffic Choices Study PRELIMINARY RESULTS - Focus Groups Overall, participants reported they changed travel behavior over the course of the study. Changes in behavior were largely driven by costs, but some found additional benefits: –Savings in time –More comfortable or interesting drive –Time to read on the bus The availability of real-time tolls on the traffic meter heightened participants’ awareness of the cost of travel. Participants think that revenues should be dedicated to maintaining and improving transportation systems. Privacy of travel data is a concern, but not to the extent that it would derail the use of this technology.

20. Puget Sound Traffic Choices Study OUTLOOK - Expected Full Results Understanding of driver behavior: price elasticity of demand (details by time of day, day of week, etc.) Substitutability of other routes, transit/ridesharing, etc. Differences by HH type (income, size, fleet, transit accessibility) Projection of revenues, congestion reduction and other system level consequences Examination of participant perceptions (e.g. technology and privacy) Additional systems design work: –Data protection and privacy –Verification and enforcement systems –Ancillary geo-positioning capabilities (e.g. microgyro, DSRC, GSM) –Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII)

21. Puget Sound Traffic Choices Study OUTLOOK - Verification and Payment Core technology for satellite-based toll systems is mature Quality of the underlying geodata base is a crucial factor At times (e.g. tunnels), GPS signal reception may need to be augmented with additional positioning technologies Will GPS records be sufficient to meet a standard of proof (local evidentiary requirements) to allow billing and enforcement? Occasional users and non-banking individuals impose challenges for any Electronic Payment System Enforcement may require other facility use verification (DSRC, video capture, mobile enforcement). Arterial tolling systems have different design requirements than a freeway only system

22. Puget Sound Traffic Choices Study OUTLOOK - Fairness of Road Pricing Direct use charging addresses existing horizontal inequalities –Across users groups (e.g. vehicle classes) –Across geography (e.g. urban/rural) Other equity concerns may remain, and are best addressed through a comprehensive treatment of both revenue and expenditure policies Road charging improves overall economic efficiency leaving society with greater resources available to address equity

23. Puget Sound Traffic Choices Study OUTLOOK - Privacy Privacy questions involve what data leaves the vehicle, and what safeguards are in place to limit its availability and use. It is possible to design an approach where only “generic” facility use data is used by a central billing system (“thick” vs. “thin” client). Audit/dispute functions can be preserved through temporarily storing data within the vehicle device. However, any selected approach will influence the underlying economics of system design

24. Puget Sound Traffic Choices Study OUTLOOK - Summary Project demonstrates general feasibility of GPS-based solution for tolling applications in US Successful operational results may influence long-term planning and policy making in the Puget Sound region and elsewhere Important policy questions such as privacy and equity will be better understood Large-scale deployment of a GPS-based tolling solution depends on a viable business model and public acceptance of underlying concepts

25. Puget Sound Traffic Choices Study For more information contact: Michael Wieck Siemens ITS 206.245.6222 Michael.wieck@itssiemens.com Matthew Kitchen Puget Sound Regional Council 206.464.6196 mkitchen@psrc.org http://www.psrc.org/projects/trafficchoices/index.htm

26. Puget Sound Traffic Choices Study BACKGROUND – Costs of Congestion

27. Puget Sound Traffic Choices Study BACKGROUND – Optimal Toll

28. Puget Sound Traffic Choices Study BACKGROUND – Welfare Gain and Revenue

29. Puget Sound Traffic Choices Study PRELIMINARY RESULTS - Changes in vehicle use NOTE: All results are preliminary. Almost 80% of the households drove less and/or reduce their exposure to tolls in other ways!