Factors affecting Atlanta commuters’ high occupancy toll lane and carpool choices

As more high occupancy toll (HOT) facilities are planned and under development, a comprehensive understanding of HOT operations is required for establishing appropriate HOT policies. To enhance the understanding, this study attempts to investigate the factors affecting drivers’ choices on HOT lane use and carpooling in the Atlanta I-85 HOT corridors. The investigation utilizes a questionnaire-based survey addressed to 12,000 households/commuters in the corridors by employing a mail-out/mail-back method. A total of 642 surveys were retrieved and about 300 surveys after data screening were utilized for developing classification tree and logistic regression models that explain commuters’ HOT lane and carpool choices. The estimated models indicate that HOT lane and carpool choices can be affected by various factors including age, gender, income, commute distance, education, number of household workers and car ownership. In addition, the models show that respondents’ positive perception of commute condition changes after the HOT installation can substantially increase the chance of using the HOT lanes. The results also imply that the HOT installation cannot always boost carpool formation, requesting policy makers to develop appropriate strategies that encourage drivers to carpool.