Car drivers’ acquisition of public transport information. It is generally known that habitual car drivers are not susceptible for high quality public transport information, as they do not consider the public transport mode and are generally not aware of available public transport information services. However, little is known about the susceptibility for such information of another category of drivers : that of non habitual car drivers that do consider public transport as a possible modal option, and that are aware of available information sources. This paper investigates their propensity to acquire public transport information when making mode choices. It does so by performing a literature review and presenting numerical examples that are based on a theoretical model of travellers’ information acquisition processes. Five barriers that may withhold non habitual car drivers from acquiring public transport information in a mode choice context are identified and discussed : information costs, information unreliability, perceptions of initial levels of knowledge concerning public transport, information irrelevance and a strong base preference for the car mode. Possible measures to overcome these barriers are signalled. Subsequently it is argued that it is, however difficult, necessary to incorporate these barriers in the design of stated preference experiments that aim to generate data concerning mode choices in the presence of information. (Author/publisher)
Abstract