Field Operational Test of Tools for Facilitating Smart Travel Choices Through Real-Time Information

This report documents an effort to assess whetherintegrated multimodal real-time traveler information can encouragetravelers to consider transit as a more viable choice. Under the sponsorship of the California Department of Transportationand in partnership with the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority,California PATH developed and field tested Trip2go --a suite of web-based and mobile-phone-based applications incorporating real-time transit and highway condition information. Both objective and surveys were collected to support statistical and modeling analyses to evaluate the effectiveness of real-time information inmaking choice decisions. The evaluation results show that travelers can be influenced by real-time travel information for both mode and time shifts, particularly for no-commuter trips. The mode and time shifts can potentially relieve traffic congestion, reduce fuel consumption and lower tailpipe emissions.