Traveler Information

What Is It?

Typically, traveler information breaks down into two categories: static information, which is known in advance and changes infrequently, and real-time information, which changes frequently.

Static information includes:

Real-time information is what travelers have repeatedly said they value the most.

Real-time information includes:

Key Results

In 1995 there were a handful of Internet traffic and traveler information sites; by 2001 there were hundreds. Public agencies (usually regional transit authorities or departments of transportation) posted Web sites of their own. Hoping that broader dissemination of traveler information would ease congestion, agencies also shared their data with private service providers. The agencies collected most of their data from loop detectors, closed circuit tv cameras and incident reports from highway patrols.

Initially, private-sector ventures tended to focus on marketing traffic information to individual drivers, who would receive it through a variety of wireless and Internet-based methods. Revenues would come from a combination of subscription fees and advertising (on Web sites). However, the market for private, for-profit traffic information failed to mature as rapidly as had been hoped, in part because of insufficient or unreliable data and because of consumers' resistance to paying for information, some of which they received free via broadcast radio, telephone or roadside signs. Research has shown that people do not place a large value on traveler information, so much so that they will not pay for it when it is offered as a stand-alone product in enough numbers to warrant the service. There is some evidence to suggest they might be willing to pay for it as part of a larger subscription package. Also, the lack of a common standard for information transmission and collection made it difficult for providers to achieve sufficient market penetration to overcome consumers' natural resistance to unfamiliar devices.

By the late 1990's, while publicly operated sites continued to grow in number and sophistication, many private Internet ATIS providers ceased operations or put them on hold, and ownership of the remaining active properties was consolidated into the hands of a few. By the early 2000's Web and wireless ATIS providers were operating in markets that account for 92% of the population in the U.S. Although these providers tend to have roots in traditional radio traffic reporting, the traveler information that they are offering is “advanced.”

• Telematics Starts to Take Hold:
  Advanced traveler information is increasingly associated with “telematics,” two-way communication devices that can connect a traveler to virtually any number of information sources. Telematics for personal automobiles has attracted the greatest initial attention in the private sector. In the U.S., GM's OnStar system and Clarion's Joyride are the best-known pioneers. As of the end of 2001 model year, GM reported that 1 million of the vehicles it had sold were equipped with on-board telematics devices. By the 2003 model year (whose cars start to go on sale in 2002), nearly all new cars from the major U.S. automakers are expected to have telematics either built in at the factory or offered as an option. The prevailing business model assumes a revenue stream based on annual, for the most part, subscription charges. Most automakers waive the first year's fee for new car buyers, so it remains to be seen how much value car owners place on the service and whether they will renew in sufficient numbers to generate adequate revenue. Telematics is much more widespread in Europe and Japan, through a variety of media, including DVD or CD-ROM map-reading devices with little or no interactivity with the Internet. In Japan, more than 2 million vehicles are equipped with interactive devices that can receive real-time information. In addition, communication providers are starting to offer traveler information as part of Web-phone and personal digital assistant subscription services.

  Advanced technologies enable providers to customize their services to a much greater degree, which addresses a key failing of most traveler information, its lack of timeliness and specificity. But growing Internet use among ATIS providers and customers has created a new challenge: how to match competitors' enhancements and how to meet expectations among customers for constant improvements in the quality of information and the ease with which they can get access to it. To attract and retain customers, ATIS providers must keep pace with improvements in the medium as a whole and continue to enhance their traveler information services.

  The new wireless and Web technologies are used both to gather traffic information (e.g., cell-phone probes, incident reports by cell phone users, GPS/GIS tracking for incident management) and disseminate it (e.g., Internet postings of up-to-date transit schedules, advice issued through on-board navigation systems, advisory services delivered through cell phones, pagers and other devices capable of receiving e-mail or logging onto the Web). They are also used to disseminate information from fixed sensors such as loops, radar detection devices and closed-circuit tv cameras.

  With wireless ATIS, the historic distinction between pre-trip and en-route information is starting to blur. Travelers are increasingly able to receive information, often in real or nearly real time, both before and during their trips. For drivers, that could be in the form of on-board, Web-based navigation screens or Web phones; for transit users, it could mean dynamic message boards in transit stations or at bus stops.

• Traditional Methods Still Popular:
  Telephone advisory services continue to be important sources of traveler information, especially for transit users. With the Federal Communications Commission's assignment of 511 as a nationwide traveler and traffic information number in July 2000, telephone-based ATIS is expected to expand further, as is overall awareness of ATIS. The 511 Traffic Information Service is a telephone-based system that provides real-time information on road surface and weather conditions, accidents, road closures, work zones, public transportation scheduling and tourism.

  Radio and, to a lesser extent, television broadcast traffic reports (and some ATIS delivered over cable networks) are also popular, though they tend to be generalized and only available at limited times of day. Commercial broadcasts, which are the most widely listened to, usually occur only during rush hour and cover only the busiest routes. Publicly operated Highway Advisory Radio (HAR), which broadcasts information on a dedicated radio frequency, tends to provide more detailed, localized information, but keeping the information current is so labor-intensive that HAR is often limited to seasonal services like winter snow-chain advisories or services for discrete geographic regions that present particular information challenges, such as flood-prone areas. In Europe, dedicated radio frequencies are widely used to deliver information to drivers.

  Variable message signs are also widespread and are extremely popular among motorists as long as they are placed in the proper spot and convey messages that are helpful and easy to understand. They have been made even more effective with wireless technologies that allow them to be updated remotely in response to changing conditions.

  The table below evaluates the main ATIS services in use in the U.S. as of the mid-1990's. It is taken from “What Have We Learned About Advanced Traveler Information Systems and Customer Satisfaction?”, Chapter 4 of What Have We Learned About ITS? (US DOT, FHWA, December 2000). Much of this discussion has been adapted from this material as well.

• What Users Value:
  

  • Drivers:

  Though drivers and transit riders may receive their information by means of similar, Web-based technologies, preliminary evaluations of ATIS projects in the 1990s and beyond indicate that the needs of drivers and transit riders differ in significant ways and that ATIS systems for transit and highways should have different components.
  
  Market research studies of drivers who used traffic information showed that they are concerned with:

  • accuracy;
  • timeliness,
  • reliability,
  • cost (capital and operating);
  • degree of decision guidance and personalization;
  • convenience (ease and speed of access);
  • and safety (of operation).

   

  In a study of the Wisconsin DOT's traffic Web site, users cited four primary personal benefits:

  • saving time;
  • avoiding congestion;
  • reducing stress;
  • and avoiding unsafe conditions.

   

  • Transit Riders:

  Two major evaluations of transit ATIS were conducted in the mid-1990's, one of them concerning a Web-based system. The evaluations found that transit customers value ATIS for the sense of control it gives them over their travel time and travel decisions. They valued real-time information, both pre-trip and en route, and easy access to detailed information about the transit system. Among the sources of transit information they said would be helpful were monitors displaying arrival times and other information on platforms or at stops, Web sites and phones.

• How Advanced Traveler Information Affects Travel Behavior

• Drivers may change their route depending on what type of trip they are making (i.e. commute or non-commute) and their confidence in the reliability of the information.

• Drivers' responses may also differ depending on how they get the information, whether over the radio, via the Internet, from message signs, from telephone advice lines or television.

• Drivers' reactions are then affected by how accurate they perceive information from a given technology to be and the clarity with which the given technology presents it. (The credibility of highway advisory radio can be undermined if its sound quality is low; but a well-designed, easy-to-read Web site loses credibility if it hasn't been updated recently.)
  

Both commuter and non-commuter drivers have shown that traveler information can influence their route choices and departure times. What is less clear is how and if traveler information can cause significant numbers of travelers to change modes, partly because alternative modes are rarely readily available. Also less clear is whether large numbers of travelers will choose new routes given the fact that they are often not available or don't present reasonable time savings.

Route choice models have been developed to gauge drivers' responses. Most assume that travelers always choose the route with the minimum travel time when that information is available. A more useful model could be one that predicts the likelihood of their changing routes if they are given information that they perceive to be reliable.

The quality of traveler information has been shown to greatly influence commuters' route choice and departure times, according to a study at the University of Texas at Austin, where researchers observed drivers in a simulated traffic system. They also found that:

• Commuters have a strong aversion to switching routes, even when real-time information suggests they go a different way.

• Commuters are resistant to making changes if they experienced significant congestion in the preceding leg of their trip.

• Commuters who experience widely variable travel times tend to comply with pre-trip route guidance, though this doesn't make them more or less likely to act on information they receive en route.

• When feedback was provided by the advanced traveler information system, commuters were more likely to adhere to its suggestions than if the feedback came only from the commuters' own experiences.
  

*Quantitative deployment tracking data not available. Deployment level determined by expert judgment