Empowered by information and communication technologies, people who use different modes of travel with different characteristics can now have more access to information services and make use of a wide range of traveler information while pre-trip, on the move, and post-trip. In academic studies, it has also been widely accepted that traveler information about travel opportunities, location and network, differences of travel costs between modes and level of service plays an important role in influencing people’s travel decisions, such as time choices, mode choices, route choices, and location choices (Koppelman and Pas, 1980).
Information's role in support travel decision
Gathering, organizing, and absorbing information about transportation network options and performance is complicated by the intrinsic spatial and temporal dimensions of such information. Human knowledge of the spatial environment (cognitive map), is usually based on a limited mental representation of route locations and the physical environment. It influences travel behavior in a significant way. For example, the propensity to divert or change route in the face of congestion is related to the number of routes known to a person (Khattak, 1991).
Information about travel decision can be acquired actively, such as by reading a map, asking people, or listening to broadcast, or it can also be developed passively, such as through experiencing in person. The acquired information, along with existing, stored knowledge, is used to make both long-term (auto purchase) and short-term (departure time, mode choice, and route choice) choices. For instance, over a longer term, a repetitive news of rising oil price and environmental concern could have a latent effect of convincing travelers of using more public transportation system and giving up auto use.
How is the precious information delivered to travelers?
There are many ways traveler information can be delivered to users. Traditionally, private car users can use emergency call boxes othe roadside to get themselves posted while transit users can access kiosks to get update. More recently, smart bus stop, dynamic message signs (DMS), In-Vehicle Information Systems, personal portable devices, and the Internet, have shown great potential for delivering information of high quality.
Personally, I'd like to focus on the options of personal portable devices and internet.
Having been studying advanced traveler information systems (ATIS) for months, I've seen a great deal amount of practices and examples that are quite worthy of a detailed examination. Among them, some are really handy in terms of user interface and concise manipulation (like google transit), some cover a more comprehensive set of travel-related information (like hopstop), and the others have specific focus regarding mode of choice or fare calculation (like district taxi fare estimator or NYC Bike Maps ). There are a lot more out there. Even though the nature of data combination in each area is highly localized (depending on transportation modes available), but the technology and management of the traveler information could be quite similar .
Some possibilities of ATIS
With the advent of GPS and other positioning technology, context-ware services could creat a basket of new tools that could futher improve travel experience and make transport planning more timely and effective.
Self-examination of Travel Behavior
Associated Press reporter Anick Jesdanuna noted in a review that "It was through HopStop that I learned I've been taking a roundabout way to New York's Kennedy airport all these years. The site also offers cab options - though I use it primarily to gauge how much money I save by using public transit." Through a more objective planning agent, people now can learn a better way of traveling which in turn will enhance their travel performance and save their time and/or money. Once it learns the user's value of time and money in advance, context-ware ATIS can be involved to provide a more smart and well-calculated recommendation.
Climate Crisis Counteraction
Transportation demand management (TDM) measures for environment such as park and ride participation and carpooling have been discussed. Nonetheless, the effectiveness of those measures heavily rests on the underlying environmental awareness that tells travelers to make such a change (Jones, 2003). Therefore, instead of waiting for the change, it might be more promising to actively arouse the awareness. ATIS can be an agent through which users will be informed of their emissions via different modes of travel. This application, along with the first, can also be called Traffic Feedback Program.
Service Ranking
The idea is to make more competitive the usually incompetent and sluggish transit industry or irregular qualities of services in taxi industry by making users' voice more powerful and visible. In terms of taxi in dustry, the operators or companies that rank low or way below standard will never be shown on the search result when users are checking available choice. In the transit part, where there might be only one or limited public operator, ranking among different lines, varied time period, and drivers could also have a positive effect.
Feedback Collection
From a planner's point of view, if an incentive mechanism is cleverly devised, context-aware ATIS can request feedback from a user right after the user check a piece of information about a specific route and mode. Depending on the degree of context-awareness, ATIS might also be able to know wehther it's commute trip or noncommute trip, or it can simply randomly select a number of samples to conduct a massive survey for planning purpose. Because of the nature of IT, the data collection way can be much more cost-effective and timely. Howerever, proper attention will be given to the information accessibility and other minority issues.
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