Meta-analysis of price elasticities of travel demand in great britain: Update and extension
Mark Wardman
Abstract
Price elasticities are widely used in transport planning, forecasting and appraisal. This paper presents the largest ever meta-analysis of price elasticities of travel demand based on 2023 elasticities drawn from 204 British studies published between 1968 and 2020. A large number of credible variations in elasticities emerge that add to the evidence base, challenge some official recommendations and are useful to practitioners. The paper also presents an original meta-analysis of the length of time until the long run is achieved, based on 386 observations obtained from 47 studies. This is an important complement to the price elasticity meta-analysis and it also challenges official recommendations. Whilst the research is based on British evidence, the insights of a methodological nature at the least are transferable to other contexts.