A comparative investigation of the effects of the design dimensions of choice experiments on car commuters route choice behaviour and valuation of time in Taiwan and Australia

This paper uses an attribute-based stated choice experiment with a design adopted from Hensher's Design of Designs study, originally implemented in Australia, to investigate the role, in Taiwan, of the numbers of alternatives, choice sets, attributes, attribute levels, and the range of attribute levels, on choice response and implied willingness to pay for specific attributes in the context of car commuter choice of route. Computer-assisted personal interviews were conducted in Taichung City, Taiwan, to solicit data on commuter route choices. A series of multinomial logit models were estimated to investigate the effects of design dimensions on car commuters' willingness to pay (WTP) for travel time savings and reduced time variability. A comparison is also made between the findings from Taichung, Taiwan and Sydney, Australia, providing insights into differences in the role of each design dimension and consequent WTP estimates between Taichung City and Sydney.