Commuter Behavior and Decision Making: Designing Motorist Information Systems

Abstract

This research reports on the results of a large sample survey designed to investigate the response of commuters to the delivery of motorist information. The main purpose of the survey was to investigate the impact of traffic information on commuter's route choices, mode choices, and departure times, and to determine whether motorists could be categorized according to their specific information needs. The surveyed population consisted of 9,652 home-to-work Interstate five (I–5) commuters, of which 3,892 (40%) returned usable surveys for analysis. Using the cluster analysis statistical technique, four commuter subgroups were shown to exist with respect to their willingness to respond to the delivery of real-time traffic information. These groups were: (1) route changers those willing to change routes on or before entering I–5 (20.6%), (2) non-changers, those unwilling to change time, route, or mode (23.4%), (3) time and route changers (40.1%), and (4) pre-trip changers, those willing to change time, mode, or route before leaving the house (15.9%). The response of these commuter groups with respect to several variables and some applications of this data to the creation of motorist information systems are discussed.

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