VARIABLE MESSAGE SIGNS AND RADIO TRAFFIC INFORMATION - AN INTEGRATED EMPIRICAL-ANALYSIS OF DRIVERS ROUTE CHOICE BEHAVIOR

In this paper we analyse the impact of both radio traffic information and variable message sign information on route choice behaviour. The e mpirical analysis is based on an extensive survey held among road user s in the Amsterdam corridor in July 1994. The data is stemming from th e EC DRIVE II project BATT. To analyse the factors that influence rout e choice behaviour, several types of discrete choice models (ordered p robit, multiple legit and bivariate ordered probit) have been estimate d. Bivariate models are needed to model the (endogenous) dependency of the use of radio traffic information and variable message sign inform ation. The results confirm earlier findings that women are less likely to be influenced by traffic information. New is the finding that comm uters are less likely to be influenced, and that the level of satisfac tion with alternative routes is strongly related to the type and dista nce of the alternative road. The analysis also reveals that the impact s of radio traffic information and variable message sign information o n route choice behaviour are very similar, and that route choice adapt ations based on radio traffic information are positively related to ro ute choice adaptations based on variable message sign information. An interesting issue is the willingness-to-pay for having in-vehicle dyna mic traffic information. As expected, the willingness-to-pay is relati vely large for male drivers on business trips. Another important new f inding is that the results suggest that there is a positive correlatio n between the use of radio traffic information and variable message si gn information.