Use and Effects of Advanced Traveller Information Services (ATIS): A Review of the Literature

Abstract

Rapid technological developments in the field of personal communication services probe visions of a next generation in Advanced Traveller Information Services (ATIS). These technological developments provoke a renewed interest in the use and effect of such next‐generation ATIS among academia as well as practitioners. To understand better the potential use and effects of such next‐generation ATIS, a thorough review is warranted of contemporary conceptual ideas and empirical findings on the use of travel information (services) and their effects on travellers’ choices. This paper presents such a review and integrates behavioural determinants such as the role of decision strategies with manifest determinants such as trip contexts and socio‐economic variables into a coherent framework of information acquisition and its effect on travellers’ perceptions.

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the valuable insights gained from discussions with Theo Arentze and Harry Timmermans. Remarks by David Banister and two anonymous referees also substantially improved the focus and contents of the paper. The paper was written in the context of the PITA programme, which is a collaboration between the Delft University of Technology and the Eindhoven University of Technology, and which is sponsored by NWO/Connekt.

Notes

1. In a lexicographic choice, the performance of alternatives concerning their most important attribute is evaluated, and the alternative with the highest score is chosen.

2. Framing elements of habitual behaviour as a cost–benefit decision may appear somewhat counterintuitive at first. However, it may be argued that when relevant past behaviour exists, executing a habit is in a sense an economizing mode of decision‐making as the costs of decision‐making are practically non‐existent (Gärling et al., 2001; Golledge, 2002; Gärling and Axhausen, 2003). Argued this way, habit may be regarded as an application in extremis of the cost–benefit perspective: given both unchanged situational factors and the availability of alternative options, repeating successful past behaviour without acquiring any information is very cost‐effective.

3. It may be expected, although no empirical evidence in that regard is known, that an important determinant of the usability of an information service (and therefore its effectiveness) is that it provides the traveller with information in his/her own language, especially in situations where complex information is provided, and time pressure plays a role.

4. On the other hand, the introduction of new alternatives may also increase a traveller’s perceived complexity of the situation.