The value of time (VOT) is a fundamental component used in transportation modeling, policy analysis, and economic appraisal. Decades of research and practice have empirically estimated the VOT across many factors (e.g., mode, purpose, time, comfort, etc.), yet little is known about its underlying form. Although it is well established that VOT can vary, it is still unclear whether patterns exist in this variation. The objective of this paper is not to merely estimate the VOT, but to model the VOT across multiple continuous and interacting variables. The purpose is to reveal its functional form with respect to mode, age, gender, purpose, income, and time of day to provide a generalizable understanding for future research and practice. Such an understanding can help develop simpler models and reduce the need for bespoke estimations for every conceivable variable perturbation. This research utilized a household travel survey containing 14,159 reported trips with imputed travel time and costs for the alternative mode choices. The average overall estimated VOT is 40.32 $/h, with results showing VOT varying log-linearly with income and trip distance, but following a Gaussian function (normal curve) with age. Overall, the results show that travel distance dominates VOT variation, which increases exponentially at a rate that is 3.61 times higher per mile of distance than per $10,000 of income, and that VOT by age peaks at age 54. This basic understanding of how the VOT varies sets the foundation for answering the subsequent question for why it might vary.

时间价值（VOT）是运输建模，政策分析和经济评估中使用的基本组件。数十年的研究和实践经验性地估计了许多因素（例如，模式，目的，时间，舒适度等）中的VOT，但对其基本形式知之甚少。尽管已经确定VOT可以变化，但仍不清楚这种变化中是否存在模式。本文的目的不仅是估计VOT，而且还要在多个连续且相互作用的变量之间对VOT建模。目的是揭示其有关模式，年龄，性别，目的，收入和一天中的时间的功能形式，以便为将来的研究和实践提供可概括的理解。这种理解可以帮助开发更简单的模型，并减少对每种可能的变量扰动进行定制估算的需求。这项研究利用了一项家庭旅行调查，其中包含14159次报告的旅行，其中包含了替代模式选择的估算旅行时间和费用。平均总的估计VOT为40.32 $ / h，结果显示VOT与收入和出行距离成对数线性变化，但随年龄变化遵循高斯函数（正态曲线）。总体而言，结果表明，出行距离是VOT变动的主导因素，VOT的变化成倍增长，每英里的距离比每10,000美元的收入高3.61倍，并且VOT的年龄在54岁达到峰值。报告了159次旅行，其中包含替代模式选择的旅行时间和费用。平均总的估计VOT为40.32 $ / h，结果显示VOT与收入和出行距离成对数线性变化，但随年龄变化遵循高斯函数（正态曲线）。总体而言，结果表明，出行距离是VOT变动的主导因素，VOT的变化成倍增长，每英里的距离比每10,000美元的收入高3.61倍，并且VOT的年龄在54岁达到峰值。报告了159次旅行，其中包含替代模式选择的旅行时间和费用。平均总的估计VOT为40.32 $ / h，结果显示VOT与收入和出行距离成对数线性变化，但随年龄变化遵循高斯函数（正态曲线）。总体而言，结果表明，出行距离是VOT变动的主导因素，VOT的变化成倍增长，每英里的距离比每10,000美元的收入高3.61倍，并且VOT的年龄在54岁达到峰值。VOT如何变化为回答后续问题的原因奠定了基础，该问题为何会有所变化。