Investigations of the Dynamic Travel Time Information Impact on Drivers’ Route Choice in an Urban Area—A Case Study Based on the City of Bialystok

Abstract

Increasing traffic volumes in cities leads to common traffic congestions building up, especially during peak hours. To protect city dwellers from excessive fuel exhaust and traffic noise and to prevent drivers from time loss due to overloaded routes, it is important to inform them about real-time traffic conditions and possible delays in advance. Effectively influencing drivers’ decisions to divert from an original route choice in case of traffic hinderance is essential, and application of dynamic travel information in the form of variable message signs (VMSs) is believed to be effective in these terms. The paper examines drivers’ willingness to divert from an initial route choice due to the information provided on VMS boards. Their behavior was analyzed in terms of their response to everyday and artificially elongated travel times displayed on the VMSs. Maximum simulated elongation reached 200% and 300% of the initial state, depending on the characteristics of the pre-peak conditions. To assess the effectiveness of VMSs, the changes in traffic intensities were statistically analyzed. In general, apart from few significant differences, the results revealed drivers’ ignorance of the travel time information provided on the VMS, regardless of the extension of the original times.