TRAVEL COST PARAMETER ANALYSIS 



O pportunity Cost of Travel Time 



The opportunity cost of travel time reflects the deterrent 

 effect that longer drives have on visiting more distant sites, 

 independent of vehicle operating costs. For example, many higher 

 income people could afford the extra $8.00 or so of gasoline cost 

 incurred if they drove an additional two hours to hunt, but many 

 could not "afford" the additional time cost in terms of other 

 activities foregone. 



As noted previously, some fraction of the hourly wage is 

 generally used as a proxy for this opportunity cost of time. 

 This is due, in part, to the work of Cesario (1976), which showed 

 the opportunity cost of time in commuting studies equaled between 

 one-fourth and one-half of the wage rate. Based on this work, 

 the Water Resources Council recommends using the opportunity cost 

 of time in recreational travel at one-third the wage rate. 



For our study, this estimate of the opportunity cost of 

 travel time is 7.0 cents per mile, based on an estimated wage 

 rate for our sample of deer hunters of $9.43 per hour and 45 

 miles per hour speed of travel. The hourly wage is derived from 

 average household income for the deer hunter sample (25,380, 

 based on 994 observations) and the ratio of U.S. median household 

 income to average hourly earnings (Statistical Abstract, 1986). 

 The latter implies an average of 2,691 hours of work per 

 household for Montana. 



Other empirical evidence on the cost of travel time is 

 provided by a study of Rhode Island saltwater sport anglers 



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