Meta-Analysis and the Value of Travel Time Savings: A Transatlantic Perspective in Passenger Transport

The value of travel time savings (VTTS), is one of the key variables which are taken into account when several alternatives leading to different travel times are considered. In the case of households, VTTS is related to the monetary value that is attached to the possibility to save a determined amount of travel time that can be reallocated to other activities. In the case of public administrations, VTTS is one of the most important benefit categories aimed at justifying the investments in transport infrastructures that can allow people to save travel time. The relevance of VTTS has availed various economic studies displaying an analytical as well as an empirical framework both in the European Union and in North-American countries. The present paper aims at providing a meta-analysis of a selection of the studies related to the VTTS in passengers’ transport. It will introduce a brief history of meta-analysis (from its first applications in medical science and psychology to its recent use in spatial economics) and of the microeconomic models used in VTTS estimations. It will also identify the factors that are statistically relevant with respect to the VTTS and it will provide a meta-analytical estimation of the selected studies, with a particular emphasis on the similarities and on the differences among European and North-American studies.