The Effects of Acceptance of Real-time Freeway Information on Drivers\' Travel Behavior

First, this paper applied “Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)” to verify the latent variables that will positively or negatively affect drivers’ enroute switching intention and explore the causal effect between them. Then “Ordered Probit Model (OPM)” method was used to confirm whether latent variables and types of route information will affect drivers’ enroute switching behavior in the stated congestion scenarios.

The research subjects were freeway drivers traveling between Keelung and Hsinchu City, and 528 valid questionnaires were collected. The results of SEM showed that all research hypotheses have been confirmed. The empirical results reveal that drivers’ enroute switching behavior would be motivated by providing more detailed information on the alternative route.