Interest Trends of Expressway Service Area Users and the Impact of COVID-19
-Through analysis of users’ opinions-
2023 Volume 10 Pages 47-62
Details
2023 Volume 10 Pages 47-62
The purpose of this study is to support financial decision-making for Service Area and Parking Area (SAPA) operators, through achieved by analyzing expressway commercial facility user opinions, identifying variations in needs based on route, and more, assessing need shifts due to COVID-19’s impact.
To address these objectives, the following hypotheses were formulated: (H1) “The needs of SAPA vary from route to route,” (H2) “Traffic volume on routes connected by SAPA also makes a difference in the needs of users,” and (H3) “The needs of SAPA change before and after Covid-19 is extended,”
In terms of analysis by route, there are differences like while some expressways interest in “parking” was high and other expressways had interest in “meals” in FY2018 and FY 2019. But, these routes showed to shift their interest to “cleanliness” in FY2020.connects
In the heavy-traffic and non-traffic segments, the former showed more interest in “facilities (functions),” while the latter showed more interest in “customer service. Next, a year-to-year change in both categories showed that interest in “cleanliness”. H1 and H2 are verified, but not for H3 by these results.
Based on these results, the recommendation is to treat multiple SAPAs on routes and sections with distinctive needs as a single group, and to promote their use by allocating capital investment depending on their group needs.
