IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/mns/wpaper/wp201206.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Carpooling and Driver Responses to Fuel Price Changes: Evidence from Traffic Flows in Los Angeles

Author

Listed:
  • Antonio M. Bento

    (Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University)

  • Jonathan E. Hughes

    (University of Colorado at Boulder)

  • Daniel T. Kaffine

    (Division of Economics and Business, Colorado School of Mines)

Abstract

Understanding how drivers respond to fuel price changes has important implications for highway congestion, accidents, carbon policy, local air pollution and taxation. We examine the underexplored relationship between fuel prices and carpooling. Using a simple theoretical model we show that traffic flows in mainline lanes decrease when fuel prices increase. However in carpool (HOV) lanes, flow can either increase or decrease. Traffic flows in mainline lanes are shown to be more responsive to price changes when the presence of a carpool lane provides a substitute to driving alone. We test these predictions using eight years of traffic data for 1,700 locations in Los Angeles. The mean elasticity of flow with respect to fuel price is 0.136 for HOV lanes. This implies 10 additional carpools per hour for a 10 percent increase in fuel price. For mainline lanes, flow elasticities are -0.083 and -0.050 for highways with and without an HOV lane. These estimates imply that the mean highway with an HOV lane experiences a 30 percent larger decrease in hourly flow compared to the mean highway without an HOV lane. Flows in HOV lanes show an immediate decrease following a price increase but respond positively to price increases over time, which suggests time is an important input to carpool formation.

Suggested Citation

  • Antonio M. Bento & Jonathan E. Hughes & Daniel T. Kaffine, 2012. "Carpooling and Driver Responses to Fuel Price Changes: Evidence from Traffic Flows in Los Angeles," Working Papers 2012-06, Colorado School of Mines, Division of Economics and Business.
  • Handle: RePEc:mns:wpaper:wp201206
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://econbus-papers.mines.edu/working-papers/wp201206.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2012
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Konishi, Hideo & Mun, Se-il, 2010. "Carpooling and congestion pricing: HOV and HOT lanes," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 173-186, July.
    2. Gilles Duranton & Matthew A. Turner, 2011. "The Fundamental Law of Road Congestion: Evidence from US Cities," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(6), pages 2616-2652, October.
    3. Antonio M. Bento & Lawrence H. Goulder & Mark R. Jacobsen & Roger H. von Haefen, 2009. "Distributional and Efficiency Impacts of Increased US Gasoline Taxes," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(3), pages 667-699, June.
    4. Lee, Li Way, 1984. "The Economics of Carpools," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 22(1), pages 128-135, January.
    5. Elliott, Graham & Rothenberg, Thomas J & Stock, James H, 1996. "Efficient Tests for an Autoregressive Unit Root," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(4), pages 813-836, July.
    6. Ian W. H. Parry & Antonio Bento, 2001. "Revenue Recycling and the Welfare Effects of Road Pricing," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 103(4), pages 645-671, December.
    7. Meghan R. Busse & Christopher R. Knittel & Florian Zettelmeyer, 2009. "Pain at the Pump: The Differential Effect of Gasoline Prices on New and Used Automobile Markets," NBER Working Papers 15590, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Shanjun Li & Christopher Timmins & Roger H. von Haefen, 2009. "How Do Gasoline Prices Affect Fleet Fuel Economy?," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 1(2), pages 113-137, August.
    9. Im, Kyung So & Pesaran, M. Hashem & Shin, Yongcheol, 2003. "Testing for unit roots in heterogeneous panels," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 53-74, July.
    10. Jonathan E. Hughes & Christopher R. Knittel & Daniel Sperling, 2008. "Evidence of a Shift in the Short-Run Price Elasticity of Gasoline Demand," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 29(1), pages 113-134.
    11. Maddala, G S & Wu, Shaowen, 1999. "A Comparative Study of Unit Root Tests with Panel Data and a New Simple Test," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 61(0), pages 631-652, Special I.
    12. Ian W. H. Parry & Kenneth A. Small, 2005. "Does Britain or the United States Have the Right Gasoline Tax?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(4), pages 1276-1289, September.
    13. Grabowski, David C. & Morrisey, Michael A., 2006. "Do higher gasoline taxes save lives?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 51-55, January.
    14. Spiller, Elisheba & Stephens, Heather M., 2012. "The Heterogeneous Effects of Gasoline Taxes: Why Where We Live Matters," RFF Working Paper Series dp-12-30, Resources for the Future.
    15. Christopher R. Knittel & Ryan Sandle, 2011. "Cleaning the Bathwater with the Baby: The Health Co-Benefits of Carbon Pricing in Transportation," Working Papers 1115, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research.
    16. Kenneth A. Small & Clifford Winston & Jia Yan, 2005. "Uncovering the Distribution of Motorists' Preferences for Travel Time and Reliability," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 73(4), pages 1367-1382, July.
    17. Thomas Klier & Joshua Linn, 2010. "The Price of Gasoline and New Vehicle Fuel Economy: Evidence from Monthly Sales Data," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 2(3), pages 134-153, August.
    18. Ian W. H. Parry & Margaret Walls & Winston Harrington, 2007. "Automobile Externalities and Policies," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 45(2), pages 373-399, June.
    19. Spiller, Elisheba & Stephens, Heather M. & Timmins, Christopher & Smith, Allison, 2012. "Does the Substitutability of Public Transit Affect Commuters’ Response to Gasoline Price Changes?," RFF Working Paper Series dp-12-29, Resources for the Future.
    20. Nicholas E. Burger & Daniel T. Kaffine, 2009. "Gas Prices, Traffic, and Freeway Speeds in Los Angeles," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 91(3), pages 652-657, August.
    21. Espey, Molly, 1998. "Gasoline demand revisited: an international meta-analysis of elasticities," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 273-295, June.
    22. Johnston, Robert & Ceerla, Raju, 1996. "The Effects of New High-Occupancy Vehicle Lanes on Travel and Emissions," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt32f144w7, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    23. Meghan R. Busse & Christopher R. Knittel & Florian Zettelmeyer, 2013. "Are Consumers Myopic? Evidence from New and Used Car Purchases," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(1), pages 220-256, February.
    24. Puller, Steven L. & Greening, Lorna A., 1999. "Household adjustment to gasoline price change: an analysis using 9 years of US survey data," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 37-52, February.
    25. Johnston, Robert A. & Ceerla, Raju, 1996. "The effects of new high-occupancy vehicle lanes on travel and emissions," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 35-50, January.
    26. Shewmake, Sharon, 2010. "Can carpooling clean the air? The economics of HOV lanes, hybrid cars and the Clean Air Act," MPRA Paper 26129, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    27. Lucas W. Davis & Lutz Kilian, 2011. "Estimating the effect of a gasoline tax on carbon emissions," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(7), pages 1187-1214, November.
    28. Verhoef, Erik & Nijkamp, Peter & Rietveld, Piet, 1996. "Second-Best Congestion Pricing: The Case of an Untolled Alternative," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 279-302, November.
    29. Kenneth A. Small & Clifford Winston & Jia Yan, 2005. "Differentiated Road Pricing, Express Lanes and Carpools: Exploiting Heterogeneous Preferences in Policy Design," Working Papers 050616, University of California-Irvine, Department of Economics, revised Mar 2006.
    30. Dahl, Carol & Sterner, Thomas, 1991. "Analysing gasoline demand elasticities: a survey," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 203-210, July.
    31. G. S. Maddala & Shaowen Wu, 1999. "A Comparative Study of Unit Root Tests with Panel Data and a New Simple Test," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 61(S1), pages 631-652, November.
    32. Levin, Andrew & Lin, Chien-Fu & James Chu, Chia-Shang, 2002. "Unit root tests in panel data: asymptotic and finite-sample properties," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 108(1), pages 1-24, May.
    33. Parry, Ian W H & Bento, Antonio, 2001. " Revenue Recycling and the Welfare Effects of Road Pricing," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 103(4), pages 645-671, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hamilton, Timothy L. & Wichman, Casey J., 2018. "Bicycle infrastructure and traffic congestion: Evidence from DC's Capital Bikeshare," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 72-93.
    2. Dede Long & David Lewis & Christian Langpap, 2021. "Negative Traffic Externalities and Infant Health: The Role of Income Heterogeneity and Residential Sorting," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 80(3), pages 637-674, November.
    3. J. Scott Holladay & Jacob LaRiviere, 2015. "The Impact of Cheap Natural Gas on Marginal Emissions from Electricity Generation and Implications for Energy," Working Papers 2015-07, University of Tennessee, Department of Economics.
    4. Burke, Paul J. & Batsuuri, Tsendsuren & Yudhistira, Muhammad Halley, 2017. "Easing the traffic: The effects of Indonesia’s fuel subsidy reforms on toll-road travel," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 167-180.
    5. Julie Bulteau & Thierry Feuillet & Sophie Dantan, 2019. "Carpooling and carsharing for commuting in the Paris region: A comprehensive exploration of the individual and contextual correlates of their uses," Post-Print hal-02113257, HAL.
    6. Brandon Cunningham & Jacob LaRiviere & Casey J. Wichman, 2021. "Clustered into control: Heterogeneous causal impacts of water infrastructure failure," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 59(3), pages 1417-1439, July.
    7. Holladay, J. Scott & LaRiviere, Jacob, 2017. "The impact of cheap natural gas on marginal emissions from electricity generation and implications for energy policy," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 205-227.
    8. Jonathan E. Hughes & Daniel Kaffine, 2013. "When is Encouraging Consumption of Common Property Second Best? Sorting, Congestion and Entry in the Commons," Working Papers 2013-05, Colorado School of Mines, Division of Economics and Business.
    9. Dillon, Harya S. & Saphores, Jean-Daniel & Boarnet, Marlon G., 2015. "The impact of urban form and gasoline prices on vehicle usage: Evidence from the 2009 National Household Travel Survey," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 23-33.
    10. Wolf, Ingo & Schröder, Tobias, 2019. "Connotative meanings of sustainable mobility: A segmentation approach using cultural sentiments," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 259-280.
    11. Zhang, Tong & Burke, Paul J., 2020. "The effect of fuel prices on traffic flows: Evidence from New South Wales," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 502-522.
    12. María del Carmen Rey-Merchán & Antonio López-Arquillos & Manuela Pires Rosa, 2022. "Carpooling Systems for Commuting among Teachers: An Expert Panel Analysis of Their Barriers and Incentives," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-12, July.
    13. Ahmed, Kashif & Kamihigashi, Takashi & Matsuo, Miwa, 2023. "Positive fuel price elasticities of expressway traffic flows: Insights for policymakers and management strategists," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 99-114.
    14. Kim, Jinwon, 2022. "Does roadwork improve road speed? Evidence from urban freeways in California," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    15. Lawrence D. LaPlue & Christopher A. Erickson, 2020. "Outsourcing, trade, technology, and greenhouse gas emissions," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 22(2), pages 217-245, April.
    16. Wolff, Hendrik, 2014. "Value of time: Speeding behavior and gasoline prices," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 71-88.
    17. Brent, Daniel & Beland, Louis-Philippe, 2020. "Traffic congestion, transportation policies, and the performance of first responders," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    18. Louis-Philippe Beland & Daniel A. Brent, 2018. "Traffic and the Provision of Public Goods," Departmental Working Papers 2018-04, Department of Economics, Louisiana State University.
    19. André de Palma & Patrick Stokkink & Nikolas Geroliminis, 2020. "Influence of Dynamic Congestion on Carpooling Matching," THEMA Working Papers 2020-12, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise.
    20. de Palma, André & Stokkink, Patrick & Geroliminis, Nikolas, 2022. "Influence of dynamic congestion with scheduling preferences on carpooling matching with heterogeneous users," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 479-498.
    21. Yao, Jia & Cheng, Zhanhong & Shi, Feng & An, Shi & Wang, Jian, 2018. "Evaluation of exclusive bus lanes in a tri-modal road network incorporating carpooling behavior," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 130-141.
    22. Wichman, Casey & Cunningham, Brandon, 2017. "Notching for Free: Do Cyclists Reveal the Value of Time?," RFF Working Paper Series 17-17, Resources for the Future.
    23. Zolnik, Edmund J., 2015. "The effect of gasoline prices on ridesharing," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 47-58.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Shanjun Li & Joshua Linn & Erich Muehlegger, 2014. "Gasoline Taxes and Consumer Behavior," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 6(4), pages 302-342, November.
    2. Tscharaktschiew, Stefan, 2014. "Shedding light on the appropriateness of the (high) gasoline tax level in Germany," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 189-210.
    3. Scott, K. Rebecca, 2011. "Demand and Price Volatility: Rational Habits in International Gasoline Demand," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series qt2q87432b, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley.
    4. Knittel, Christopher R. & Tanaka, Shinsuke, 2021. "Fuel economy and the price of gasoline: Evidence from fueling-level micro data," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    5. Rik L. Rozendaal & Herman R. J. Vollebergh, 2021. "Policy-Induced Innovation in Clean Technologies: Evidence from the Car Market," CESifo Working Paper Series 9422, CESifo.
    6. Button, Kenneth, 2020. "The Transition From Pigou’S Ideas On Road Pricing To Their Application," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 42(3), pages 417-438, September.
    7. Ian W. H. Parry & Kenneth A. Small, 2005. "Does Britain or the United States Have the Right Gasoline Tax?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(4), pages 1276-1289, September.
    8. Gillingham, Kenneth & Munk-Nielsen, Anders, 2019. "A tale of two tails: Commuting and the fuel price response in driving," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 27-40.
    9. Allcott, Hunt & Mullainathan, Sendhil & Taubinsky, Dmitry, 2014. "Energy policy with externalities and internalities," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 72-88.
    10. Marrouch, Walid & Mourad, Jana, 2019. "Effect of gasoline prices on car fuel efficiency: Evidence from Lebanon," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    11. Verboven, Frank & Grigolon, Laura & Reynaert, Mathias, 2014. "Consumer valuation of fuel costs and the effectiveness of tax policy: Evidence from the European car market," CEPR Discussion Papers 10301, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    12. Banzhaf, H. Spencer & Kasim, M. Taha, 2019. "Fuel consumption and gasoline prices: The role of assortative matching between households and automobiles," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 1-25.
    13. Scott, K. Rebecca, 2015. "Demand and price uncertainty: Rational habits in international gasoline demand," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 40-49.
    14. Christopher R. Knittel & Shinsuke Tanaka, 2019. "Driving Behavior and the Price of Gasoline: Evidence from Fueling-Level Micro Data," NBER Working Papers 26488, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Jonathan E. Hughes & Daniel Kaffine, 2013. "When is Encouraging Consumption of Common Property Second Best? Sorting, Congestion and Entry in the Commons," Working Papers 2013-05, Colorado School of Mines, Division of Economics and Business.
    16. Mauricio Vaz Lobo Bittencourt & Leonardo Chaves Borges Cardoso & Elena Grace Irwin, 2016. "Biofuels Policies And Fuel Demand Elasticities In Brazil: An Iv Approach," Anais do XLIII Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 43rd Brazilian Economics Meeting] 181, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
    17. Huse, Cristian, 2014. "Fast and Furious (and Dirty): How Asymmetric Regulation May Hinder Environmental Policy," MPRA Paper 48909, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Hirte, Georg & Tscharaktschiew, Stefan, 2018. "The impact of anti-congestion policies and the role of labor-supply margins," CEPIE Working Papers 04/18, Technische Universität Dresden, Center of Public and International Economics (CEPIE).
    19. László KÓNYA, 2023. "Per Capita Income Convergence and Divergence of Selected OECD Countries to and from the US: A Reappraisal for the period 1900-2018," Applied Econometrics and International Development, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 23(1), pages 33-56.
    20. Cristina Brasili & Luciano Gutierrez, 2004. "Regional convergence across European Union," Development and Comp Systems 0402002, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:mns:wpaper:wp201206. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Jared Carbone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/decsmus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.