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Time or Cost? An experimental analysis of travel behavior in LA Metro’s GoPass program - This study examines the impacts of LA Metro’s GoPass program, which provides free transit to community college students. Using a discrete choice experiment (DCE), students chose between transit and alternative modes across trip scenarios of varying lengths. Analyses from discrete choice models revealed that GoPass participation improved the probability of bus use in the experiment, but not train use, while having a driver’s license decreased the probability of choosing transit. Values of travel time savings (VTTS) ranged from $27 and $54 per hour, while respondents valued WiFi availability between $6 and $7 per trip. Policy simulations demonstrated that modest reductions in travel time on transit yielded considerably larger impacts on mode choice and consumer surplus than zero-fare transit. Nonetheless, a GoPass-style policy intervention was found to be a cost-effective intervention while delivering modest welfare gains of 19 to 60 cents per person per trip. Congestion charges, while they promoted mode shifts away from cars, were found to be welfare-reducing. These findings underscore the role that transit reliability and reductions in travel times play in improving mobility among community college students.
