Thursday, February 27, 2025 | 12:00 – 1:00 PM (ET)
This research explored the viability and effectiveness of positive financial incentives with the objective of promoting the use of transit and micromobility alternatives to private automobiles to ameliorate traffic congestion. A way of mitigating traffic congestion is the reduction of vehicle-miles traveled (VMT). The reduction of VMT is linked to public and social goals like better air quality, sustainable and healthy environments, and the reduction of fuel consumption, among others impacts. Decision-makers look to stimulate changes in population behavior through the design and implementation of incentives and deterrents. The main goal of this study was to analyze the acceptability, implantability, and the impact on automobile users of positive financial incentives that can be used for the design of policies aiming towards the reduction of VMT. The specific objectives to achieve the main goal were to prepare a literature review, develop and carry out a survey instrument oriented to travelers to determine their willingness-to-accept (WTA) financial incentives to change their travel mode selection toward VMT reduction alternatives, perform a field experiment with subjects to evaluate their opinions about the potential effectiveness of positive financial incentives to reduce VMTs by promoting a micromobility alternative in the Municipality of Mayagüez in Puerto Rico, and to develop and conduct an Expert Opinion Survey (EOS). The EOS helped to obtain the experts’ opinions and assessment about the primary traveler’s survey and field experiment results, as well as providing their interpretations about the effectiveness and feasibility of implementing incentives to reduce VMT in small cities and college towns.
About the Presenter:
Carlos Antonio del Valle González, Ph.D., is a Professor of Economics at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez. Carlos completed a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez; a Masters in Planning from the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras, and a PhD in Design and Planning from the University of Colorado at Denver. His topics of interest are planning theory, economic development, land use planning, methods of urban and regional analysis, transportation studies, the comprehensive plan, collaborative planning, prospective analysis and scenario building, sustainable development, and urbanism. In transportation his works are mainly related to research and applications of the Willingness to Pay and Willingness to Accept concepts for transportation issues, and cost – benefit analysis and project evaluation of transportation projects. As a graduate student he was part of the Group IV of the UPR-MIT Tren Urbano Technology Transfer Program. As a researcher he was CoPI in various NICR projects. Through the years, as a practitioner and as a private consultant Carlos collaborated in many transportation related plans and projects for the government of Puerto Rico at the state and municipal levels.
