What is the value of your time?

Despite the recent move to create more bike-friendly and walkable cities or to provide more reliable public transportation options, most Americans rely on their cars to get around.  With so many people driving — especially in urban settings — roadways are getting clogged with congestion and riddled with potholes from wear and tear, causing delays and using more of our free time to reach destinations.

Have you ever thought of the cost that traffic has on your life?

The Centre for Economics and Business Research, a London-based consultancy, and INRIX, a traffic-data firm, have estimated the impact of traffic delays on everyday life. To calculate the cost of traffic, they measured:

• the loss of labor productivity from sitting in traffic;

• the increase in the price of goods due to inflated transportation costs; and

• the carbon-equivalent of fume emissions from traffic delays.

The results found that in 2013, expenses from congestion totalled $200 billion, or 0.8% of Gross Domestic Product, across four major world economies: British, French, German and American. Two-thirds of the costs incurred were the result of wasted fuel due to engine idling and lost time due to traffic delays.  In America, the average cost of congestion to a car-owning household is estimated to be $1,700 a year.

THEA’s Executive Director, Joe Waggoner, agrees that there is a value to your time. “In the business of tolling, what we sell is time.  If a customer can save time on their trip, they have a value in that,” he says. “When you save traffic time, you have more time to be with your families or more time to work.”

THEA has always focused on the value of time. Our Reversible Express Lanes on the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway were the first in the state of Florida to have all-electronic, completely cashless toll collections. Not stopping to pay for tolls results in a faster, safer, and greener trip for motorists.  And we continue to look for ways to improve your drive through innovative technologies and collaborative relationships. We strive to make your drive even more valuable in the savings it can bring to your personal time.  According to Waggoner, “You put a value on your time.  What we sell is time to be able to do other things.”

So drive our roads and compare the true value of a safer and faster drive. #LoveYourDrive