Assessing road user benefit estimation : a contingent valuation method for ride quality improvement
- Bangkok : Asian Institute of Technology, 2002
- 166 leaves
- Thesis ; no. TE-01-01 .
- Asian Institute of Technology. Thesis ; no. TE-01-01 .
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering, School of Civil Engineering
Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2002
Poor road maintenance is the major cause of highway capacity reduction, an increase of travel time and accidents, and so on. Bangkok Highway Bureau is selected as a study area to research into improvements in ride quality. Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) is used to elicit road user's preference and expressed in terms of Willingness to Pay (WTP) and Willingness to Accept (WTA). Results from questionnaires found that road users are aware of the highway deterioration problem and the study showed that they are willing to sacrifice their resources to improve their standards of living. It is now up to the government to appropriately respond to this demand in the most efficient and effective way. This research focuses on the development of benefit estimation models for the pavement network-level application. An estimation of user benefit helps engineers schedule the proper maintenance activities at the proper time. The regression models are developed based on the benefit estimation (WTP and WTA bids) and IRI values. Benefits derived from CVM are sensitive to road users. Vehicle Operating Cost (VOC) estimates the benefits on the disaggregate level, which excludes the total delay costs, total accident costs, and other indirect benefits when the total benefits can be captured by CVM.