Comparison of Mobility Impacts on Urban Commuting: Broadcast Advisories Versus Advanced Traveler Information Services

Abstract

This paper explores the effectiveness of relying on commercial radio as a source of traveler information and presents an approach to quantify mobility benefits from radio traffic advisories. The study, conducted for the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, used an analytical technique called the heuristic online web-linked arrival time estimator to examine whether broadcast traffic advisories could have mobility benefits similar to a prospective notification-based traveler information service offering personalized estimates of travel times. Traffic reports were recorded from a local radio station and manually coded to translate them into a suitable format for analysis. Results from the analysis of 37 weekdays consisting of 4,410 advisories indicated that radio traffic advisories were less effective in improving traveler on-time reliability or reducing travel disutility than a service offering route-specific travel time reports. The simulated commuter receiving regular quantitative estimates of travel times on relevant roadways typically made more effective route and trip-timing decisions than the simulated commuter receiving comparatively incomplete, irregular, and vague advisories on prevailing congestion conditions from broadcast traffic reports. In contrast, the simulated commuter listening to radio advisories recorded similar benefits to those of the simulated control subject, who ignored all forms of traveler information. During the morning peak period, the simulated radio listener fared worse than the simulated control subject and recorded lower on-time reliability performance and higher travel disutility. During the afternoon peak period, the simulated radio listener had lower travel disutility but also experienced a nominal reduction in on-time reliability performance.

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