Investigation of Traveler Information and Related Travel Behavior in the San Francisco Bay Area

TLDR: In this paper, the authors examined empirical evidence from a major field operational test to answer questions about why, how and who uses travel information, and the perceived benefits and willingness to pay for dynamic information.

Abstract: Advanced Traveler Information Systems are becoming an integral part of urban transportation systems. This paper discusses issues related to how people access, acquire and use travel information. The perceived benefits and willingness to pay for dynamic information are discussed. Empirical evidence from a major field operational test is examined to answer questions about why, how and who uses travel information. Empirical evidence suggests that information helps travelers to switch routes and departure time. The potential for information benefits is perhaps higher in cases of unexpected incidents. However, only one-third of the Target survey respondents changed their travel decisions in response to the incident. While this is a significant number in terms of demand reduction due to information, perhaps the full benefits of dynamic information are not realized because the quality of information available in just such situations is relatively low. New information media can focus on variables that are sensitive to travel-time uncertainty in order to improve the quality of information in high-uncertainty situations.