Effects of freeway mileage-based toll scheme on the short-range driver's route choice behavior

A mileage-based toll scheme will soon be adopted by Taiwan's freeway system to replace the current toll station-based model. This new policy will increase the travel cost to some short-range drivers, and they may therefore choose to switch to alternate routes, depending on their perception of the equity and acceptability of the new toll scheme. This study attempts to utilize structural equations and the discrete-choice model to analyze the perceived attitudes of highway drivers toward the mileage-based toll scheme, as well as the effects of the perceived attitudes on route choice behaviors. The results show that perceived equity as well as perceived effectiveness and efficiency have positive effects on the acceptability of toll schemes and the utility to highway users, while switching barriers have negative effects on the utility to highway drivers. In addition, we have established a binary Logit model that incorporates perceived latent variables, the results of which show that a switching behavior model that has included perceived latent variables contributes a more reasonable explanation of the actual decision-making behaviors of drivers and enhances the explanatory capability of the model. Finally, the analysis of the route choice model reveals that when the trip mileage of short-range drivers increases to 30 km or above, all the perceived latent variables do not appear to have any impact on their decision of route choice. Although drivers who decide to remain on the freeway will be required to pay the toll, they will also be compensated with improved driving speeds on the freeway.