Economics of limiting congestion in urban forest recreation areas

This paper presents the results of a contingent valuation for evaluating environmental quality in the Ataturk Urban Forest of Bursa, Turkey. The environmental quality parameter under investigation at this recreational site is congestion. Congestion is an important externality having impacts on visitors' welfare at this site. Two distinct models were employed in this study. A qualitative response model was employed to find covariate effects depending on shifting congestion levels. The other model used was the survivor model. The survivor model brings new insights to congestion pricing literature to find the mean willingness to pay for shifting congestion levels changing from level-I to level-V. It is a useful method for congestion pricing when covariate impacts are not important for the analyst. According to the survivor model results, respondents evaluated congestion level-I, which is the lowest congestion level, with an amount of USD 32.08 per visit. The value of congestion level-V, which is highest congestion level, was USD 4.34 per visit. If these amounts are aggregated into total visit rates, they correspond to USD 2,245,600 and USD 303,800 for congestion levels-I and V, respectively. Differences between these values are welfare losses of this public good. The outcomes of this paper may help policy-makers resolve environmental management issues.