Travellers' response to real-time traffic information: a study from a pre-trip and an en-route perspective
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2012
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Abstract
Rapid population growth in Calgary has contributed to increased traffic levels throughout the city's highway network. In particular, pressure has been placed on Deerfoot Trail, which is a major freeway in Calgary that provides a north-south corridor through the city. An advanced traveller information system (A TIS) can play a significant role in optimizing transportation system performance and reducing excessive delays on congested routes, by advising travellers to divert to less congested routes. However, the performance of ATIS depends upon the responses of the travellers to such technology. This research has, therefore, focused on investigating travellers' responses to ATIS, with a particular emphasis on real-time pre-trip and en-route information. As a case study, this research targeted frequent users of Deerfoot Trail and examined their travel decisions upon receiving the two types (pre-trip and en-route) of traffic information. Travellers' pre-trip behaviour for three kinds of trips (work trip, school trip and social trip) was obtained for two hypothetical scenarios (congestion without lane closures and congestion with the presence of lane closures) to analyze the impact of pre-trip information. The impact of en-route variable message signs (VMS) was also obtained to examine the rerouting behaviour of travellers. A total of 4 71 responses were collected from potential respondents through a questionnaire survey, and the analysis focused on developing a relationship between a set of explanatory variables and the decision variables through regression models. The results have led to the conclusion that various socioeconomic attributes, trip characteristics, attributes related to the familiarity with Deerfoot Trail and information access possess significant influences in rerouting decision making.
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Bibliography: p. 149-158
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Citation
Majumder, J. (2012). Travellers' response to real-time traffic information: a study from a pre-trip and an en-route perspective (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/4539