Reference no: EM133425768
In modeling subway choices, transportation researchers often use a nonlinear specification of utility of a given alternative given by:
uij = β_T[T_ij + (T_ij * D_ij)μ_TD + (Tij * Dij * S_ij)μ_TDS] + εij
where T is travel time in minutes, D is average standee passenger density of a subway car in pax/m2, and S is a binary indicator of whether passenger i is standing (S = 1) or not while traveling on alternative j.
Q1. What is the marginal disutility of travel time for someone who is the only rider on a subway car? (Hint: use parameter(s) of the model in your discussion - also, why is it called a disutility?)
Q2. What is the general expression of the marginal disutility of travel time? Discuss.
Q3. In transportation economics, the parameter μ_TD is called a crowding multiplier of the valuation of travel time. Explain the intuition of the interpretation of μ_TD.
What sign and magnitude would you expect for μ_TD? Discuss.
Q4. What would be the behavioral interpretation and expected sign of the parameter μ_TDS?
Q5. What is the marginal rate of substitution between travel time at technical capacity (i.e., Dj = 6 pax/m2) and travel time at Dj = 1 pax/m2? What is the marginal rate of substitution between an additional minute of travel time at technical capacity between traveling standing versus sitting?
Q6. Consider a rider choosing between the express and local trains in Manhattan.
The local train stops at every station, whereas the express train is faster as it only stops at a subset of stations. At some times of the day the local train has lower density of passengers than the express train. If ε iid ∼ EV 1(0, 1), write the likelihood function for a sample of size N of riders making this decision between the express and local trains. Consider the utility specification you have been discussing above.