Traveler Information > Pre-trip Information

What Is It?

• The objective of pre-trip information is to inform travelers of traffic and transit conditions, so they can assess travel options before selecting a route, mode, departure time, or deciding whether to make a trip.
• Advanced traveler information systems can enhance pre-trip travel information by providing more detailed content through more types of media. For instance, traffic information is targeted to a broad audience primarily through radio, which means that it is usually not detailed or timely enough to serve trip-planning purposes, except in the cases of major incidents.
• Pre-trip advanced traveler information makes use of ITS technology and infrastructure to deliver real-time, customized information usable by several different types of travelers.

• While adding value to each user's decision-making process, pre-trip information is not likely to have a significant impact on a system level (e.g., congestion or emissions).
• Market penetration has been relatively low thus far, and Boston SmarTraveler studies suggest that this is not likely to change when information is more widely distributed.
• Absence of system-wide effects, coupled with high costs, suggest that public agencies should be careful in spending tax dollars to finance such projects. Nevertheless, it is still too soon to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of pre-trip travel information.
• If there is a market for pre-trip travel information, services should be provided by the private sector. A commercial model has been adopted in a few cases, notably TravInfo and Boston SmarTraveler.

• Usage increases on bad weather days.
• Fifty percent of users call to verify that their planned route is feasible.
• About 30% of callers use information to choose from two or more alternative routes.
• Fifteen percent of users changed their usual route, and 14% altered their departure times in response to congestion information. After learning about a possible trip delay, approximately 6% of users notified others they would arrive later than anticipated.
• Very few changed modes or cancelled trips.
• About 2/3 of users listed anxiety-reduction as a system benefit.
• About 50% of users indicated that information allowed them to avoid traffic problems, save travel time, or arrive on time at their destination.
• Only 7% of users believe they don't receive any benefit from calling SmarTraveler.
• Users are more likely to make long trips (i.e., over 20 minutes in length) than non-users, and those who call SmarTraveler are more likely to make trips to areas where service coverage is extensive.
• Two-thirds of calls are made for work-related trips, with twice as many calls regarding evening versus morning commutes.
• Two-thirds of users have access to a cell phone in their cars, and 50% of all calls are made from a vehicle.
• Users are disproportionately high-income males in the 35 to 54 age cohort.

• SmartTraveler could be used via public kiosks or PC-modem links, with software distributed to approximately 500 people (with permission to make copies). On average, the system logged over 400 calls on weekdays and about 150 calls on weekends.
• Calls were more frequent during peak commute times and more likely to be made for trips home from work.
• Kiosks averaged 25.3 transactions per day, and each transaction lasted approximately five minutes on average. Usage declined as the test progressed, at a rate of 0.21 transactions per day, per week. Overall, each kiosk was actively used about two hours per day (the rest of the time it was idle or broken).
• Usage patterns by location suggest that kiosk access was a leisure activity and positively correlated with pedestrian traffic. Indeed, these patterns suggested that most were novices, using the kiosk more out of curiosity rather than in need of travel information.
• About half of all requests for transit route and schedule information ended in a trip itinerary printout. In contrast, about one in ten ridesharing requests ended in a ride match printout.
• An intercept survey of kiosk users found that they were twice as likely to use transit to travel to work as the general population, and their commutes were longer, both in time and distance.

• Los Angeles SmartTraveler,
• Boston SmarTraveler,
• San Francisco Bay Area's TravInfo, and
• World Wide Web (e.g., Seattle's SideWalk, TravInfo, and KPIX San Francisco and Oakland).

Author: Susan Shaheen