Mode-Switching Behavior with the Provision of Real-Time Multimodal Traveler Information

Abstract

Travelers' mode choice behavior with the presence of high-quality smartphone-delivered multimodal information (SMMI) has rarely been addressed. This study investigated commuters' en route decisions about switching from automobile to park-and-ride; high-quality SMMI about current level of service was provided. A stated preference survey was conducted in Shanghai, China, and the data from that survey were analyzed through a panel mixed logit model. The model accounted for the variations in individuals' preferences regarding travel time and correlations between repeated choices of the same individual. Modeling results showed that SMMI had significant effects on commuters' mode choice behavior and that the effects depended on gender, age, income, and education. The results revealed a high but plausible value of time (VOT). SMMI was evaluated by the users and compared with their previous experiences. This result was particularly obvious for respondents who were least likely to switch and were experienced drivers, accessed dynamic traffic information regularly, and would have been more likely to switch if an auto delay is nonrecurrent. There was also a strong inertia impact; people who were not familiar with park-and-ride would have been less likely to switch from driving to park-and-ride. Travel time was highly valued for commute trips, as revealed by the high VOT and high percentage of respondents whose major criterion for mode choice is travel time. There was a high willingness to pay for an improved service of rail transit; this willingness was reflected by the significant explanatory variable “comfort level of rail transit.”