California Partners for Advanced Transportation Technology

TravInfo was a Field Operational Test (FOT) sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and California Department of Transportation. It aimed to develop a multi-modal traveler information system for the San Francisco Bay Area, combining public and private sector talents. The Broad Area Study was part of the TravInfo FOT evaluation. It addressed issues on how travelers obtain traffic/transit information and how the information influences travel behavior. Two waves of telephone surveys of Bay Area households were conducted, one prior to and one after the Field Operational Test. The initial survey was conducted in November 1995, eight months prior to when the TravInfo FOT began; the final survey was conducted in November 1998, three months after the FOT was ended. The purposes of the Broad Area study were to establish a baseline traveler behavior of Bay Area households based on traveler information and to assess the impact of traveler information on the entire Bay Area traveling population. The surveys showed that there was little change in the way people obtain traveler information, but more people modified their travel behavior in 1998 than did in 1995 based on the traffic information. As shown in the 1995 survey, most people changed departure time or took an alternate route. Mode shift was fairly negligible in both surveys. Keywords: TravInfo traveler information travel behavior