Abstract
A real-time traffic information including travel time information is now widely used by many drivers. The travel time information mainly provided now is regarded as a descriptive type of information and does not include the driver's response to information provided. This study focuses on the provision of additional information with the existing descriptive information in order to relax the accuracy problem of descriptive information on travel time. Due to progress in sensing and information technologies, it is possible to predict short-term traffic condition to some extent of accuracy, and accordingly adding the trend information which expresses the short-term variation of traffic condition by arrows on VMS (Variable Message Sign) board, has been put into practical use in Urban Expressway in Japan. There is a possibility that providing the information on short-term trend of traffic condition (abbreviated here-in-after to “trend information”) might lead to not only improvement in service for travelers but also enhancement in traffic control by information provision. This study is aimed at analyzing the impact of trend information on driver's route choice by a tailor-made type SP survey about route choice for the users of urban expressway in Osaka and Kobe area in Japan. Some statistical analyses on SP data on route choice suggest that the increasing trend might give significant influence to the route choice of drivers.
