01043482

Component

Knowledge of how travelers respond to spikes in gas prices is key to planning for future instabilities in gas prices and offers insight into possible pricing strategies as mechanisms for reducing vehicle travel or improving efficiency of fuel use. A survey of over 500 residents in Austin, Texas capitalized on a severe spike in gas prices that transpired in September of 2005. This work examines how respondents’ travel behavior changed during and following the spike. This paper describes the findings using basic descriptive statistics, before/after behavioral correlations, and ordered probit and binary logit models to determine which factors are responsible for behavioral changes in response to gas price spikes. Respondents indicated a strong tendency to reduce overall driving and/or chain together activities in more efficient tours as a way of coping with high prices, and nearly every gas-saving behavior questioned exhibited a significant percentage of persons reporting an increase. The results suggest that urban form, more than demographics, dictates the behavioral responses adopted by individual respondents. Finally, in the wake of the spike, respondents suggested many reasons for the price shifts and voiced support for policy measures that would encourage more efficient fuel use.

01042056

07-2954

English

25p

2007

Transportation Research Board 86th Annual Meeting

CD-ROM

References; Tables (9)

Environment; Environmental impacts; Gasoline; Gasoline engines; Instability; Logits; Prices; Pricing; Probits

Fuel prices; Price spikes

Environment; Finance; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Safety and Human Factors; I10: Economics and Administration; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2007 Paper #07-2954

TRIS, TRB

Feb 8 2007 7:40PM