A Comparative Discussion on Transportation Research Studies about Traffic Information

Systems within the Country and Foreign Nations

Introduction

The modern world today has experienced advancements in many different sectors of human life and how
they use this modernization for their way of living. And with this development and innovation of
technology, people have lived a more convenient life compared from the former years when things are
done manually and with greater human effort. One good example is the digital development in the world
of transportation. In the past, traffic reports and status will either come from a friend on the way or can
be watched through television news only, which is somewhat fine already at that time because commuters
and motorists depend on this information for their self-adjustment highly considering their travel time. But
with the start of development of internet websites, mobile applications, technological devices and GPS,
anyone was given a chance to have a handier way to check the status of traffic in a particular area. This
is one of the significant inventions that has happened in this era since it paves the way for countries,
especially those developing ones, to have a step forward in their economy and way of living. This paper
gives a thorough discussion of different research studies done by professionals within the country
regarding the travelers’ perception and utilization of transportation information systems, specifically in
Klang Valley, with additional insights and comparison to the reaction of foreign countries having the same
scenario.

Objectives

As research studies continue to increase with the unending development in technology especially in the
transportation sector, this paper hereby presents a discussion of these researches with specific objectives
as listed.

1. This paper aims to give a summary and discussion of the chosen researches regarding how the
travelers in Klang Valley perceive and use the traffic information system to develop their travel
choice, considering the author’s point of view.
2. This paper aims to share the writer’s own idea and comment on the research papers considering
his own judgment with regards to the topic.
3. This paper also aims to compare the similarity of the transportation scheme of the country to
some developed and developing countries.
Research Discussions

Studies Regarding the Impact of Traffic Image Information System on Driver Travel Decision

The first research study to be discussed is related to mainly based on the drivers’ point of view. The study
is written by Hoo Ling Khoo (2016) and entitled as, “An impact analysis of traffic image information system
on driver travel choice.” The main objective of this study is to analyze and investigate the effect of traffic
information dissemination by using traffic images on driver travel choice, with the chosen respondents in
Klang Valley region. The main component of the study is based on the technological information
transmission through phone applications which has become very useful for the drivers. The research
method used in this study is composed of divided into two. The first one an opinion survey in which the
traffic images relative to traffic conditions are presented to drivers, and these drivers are going to choose
their travel route. The next stage is the application of integrated genetic algorithm with fuzzy logic (GAFL)
framework to model and evaluate, analyze, and interpret the results in the first stage for necessary
findings. As a summary of the findings in this research, particular decisions such as diverting to alternative
routes, departure time change, mode shift, and trip cancellation are the main reactions of the drivers
when they see an unnecessary or unlikely situation or traffic congestion as shown in the traffic images.
And using the framework stated, it can be concluded that drivers starts to change minds and perform
travel path changes when they perceive congestion levels that is in a medium level, and even choose to
use public transport at high congestion levels.

These drivers’ perception change is a typical scenario that can be seen especially in urban areas wherein
the people experience different kinds of traffic congestion levels. They can experience low to medium
levels during an off peak hours and also medium to high levels for rush hour periods. And based on
experience of using a traffic information app, which gives different color based on congestion level on a
particular road, drivers most commonly thinks twice of their departure time if they see red lines in the
map, typically pertaining to highly congested level. Another thing is that they would also think twice of
what transport mode and travel route. Sometimes they would take a longer travel route just to avoid the
congestion in the shorter one. Sometimes they would rather choose to commute and take the trains rather
than use their cars. Some people would even postpone to drive into their destination when they see that
the route is overcrowded.

The second study is entitled as “Quantifying Impact of Traffic Images Applications (APPS) on Travel
Choices” by Hooi Ling Khoo and K.S. Asitha (2016). This is somewhat related to the first research that
was discussed but the difference is that in the first research, it is only focused on giving a conclusion
whether traffic information applications have an impact to the decision making of drivers, while in this
research, it determined and quantified specific decisions and choices that drivers do when they see the
traffic congestion level through the system considering traffic density, speed, and flow. Like the former
research, the methodology is quite the same wherein the first stage is the gathering of traffic images of
various traffic conditions in urban highways such as the dual 3-lane carriageway, Middle Ring Road II in
Setapa, with its corresponding speed limit of 80 kph. The second stage is the application of the chosen
modeling technique which is,= Adaptive Neuro-fuzzy Inference System (Anfis). The figure below shows
the overall research development process.

The findings in this study is made through the development of driver Perceived Level of Congestion
(PLOC) model.The model showed that drivers only perceived three distinguished congestion levels in
contrast to six levels as defined in the Highway Capacity Manual (TRB, 2000). A new finding from this
study is the dynamic relationship of driver response in relation to their perceived congestion level. When
congestion level is low (<4), drivers tend to make departure time shift. If the congestion level continues
escalating, drivers will tend to divert to alternative roads. At high congestion level (>5.5), drivers will tend
to choose alternative route or cancel their trip (if it is an unimportant trip). Nevertheless, drivers resist
shifting mode to public transport. This established relationship provides more details to explain driver
choice of travel plan changes under different traffic conditions. This relationship is more useful in traveler
demand modeling when compared to a single value provided in most of the existing studies.

The findings in this study is quite the same with the first one but then it has given a quantified value or
averaged value into which drivers perform particular decisions. Thus, the writer also stresses that the
findings in this research is agreeable also.

There are related foreign studies in around the world which the perception of the drivers is also focused
on and how the functions of the applications have helped them in their everyday life. The smartphone or
VMS for traffic information has the same effect for other countries as their awareness of the situation has
been enhanced. Some of the researches especially in the states of USA such as Miwalukee, Winsconsin
(Peng and Guequierre, 2004), Northwestern Indiana (Wardman et. Al., 1997), Seattle (Spyridakis et. Al.,
1991), and Los Angeles (Abdel-Aty and Abdalla, 2006) drivers typically divert to known routes rather than
to unknown routes and are typically affected by time of day, weather, and especially traffic congestion.
Aside from this, the VMS has been developed and that it has given a thumbs up of their accuracy and
reliability from the drivers. With regards to Asian countries such as Hongkong, China (Lai and Wong,
2000), Beijing, China (Chen et al., 2008), Bangkok, Thailand (Choocharukul, 2008), and Bandung,
Indonesia (Sutandi, 2008), there are more than 50% of drivers who say that VMS is a useful tool for traffic
information. With this, same conclusion all the results are in line with how these researched turned out.

Impact of Application Features on Drivers to Use Traffic Information Applications

The fourth study to be discussed is all about the drivers’ point of view but then this time, it has already
established the fact that the traffic information applications is very much advantageous for them. The
main purpose of this paper entitled as “User Requirements and Route Choice Response to Smart Phone
Traffic Applications” by H.L. Khoo and K.S. Ashita (2016), is to investigate user requirements on apps
feature that are likely to contribute to a higher market penetration rate or in short, features that can
encourage drivers to download these kinds of appliacations. Therefore, it is somewhat a user-market
analysis of the present situation. Application features present in the study include voice guidance, real
time traffic and road info, 3-dimensional map, road alerts, weather, temperature, and wind speed forecast,
live cam real time snapshot, and many more. To be able to arrive with the necessary report output, the
methodologies used in this study is an opinion survey to understand how drivers choose traffic information
apps for updated traffic information to assist in their travel, aiming to know their responses upon receiving
the traffic information. The questionnaire consists also of personal information sheet including gender,
age, monthly household income, educational level, and household size. In conclusion of the study, they
have found out that drivers are willing to divert to alternative routes following the real time rerouting advice
provided by the apps especially for those unfamiliar drivers. Nonetheless, the existence of toll in the
alternative route is one of the discouraging factors to the drivers. Drivers’ socio-demographic
characteristics appear to be less influencing factors. Only household income, vehicle ownership and
educational level contribute to drivers’ willingness to use the traffic apps but not their route choice
behavior. In addition, drivers’ willingness to acquire and use the information from the apps is evidenced
by their willingness to divert to alternative routes upon receiving rerouting advice. This shows that the
apps might emerge as one of the traffic information dissemination tools in the coming decades.
As with the writer’s experience of using the app, one of the main reasons of downloading an application
is the necessity for it. But the next reason is that if there is a new and useful feature has been added in
an application related to the downloaded one, there is a big chance that the user would transfer or jump
to that better application. Therefore, it just says that the more useful feature an application has, the more
customers or user it can have. With the advancement in technology, almost everyone would strive to
have a better and more convenient way of living through these applications. That’s why, as what was
concluded in the research, it is very much agreeable that household income and educational level are
the main contributors on a driver’s willingness to avail or use these traffic apps since these are the things
that define their level in the society.

Structural Equation Modeling for Analysis and Evaluation of Effectiveness of Integrated Traffic
Information Systems

As the past studies utilized different methodologies such as GAFL and Anfis in order show the perception
of drivers toward using applications for traffic information, this study entitled as “Evaluating Perceived
Quality of Traffic Information System using Structural Equation Modeling” written by Hooi Ling Khoo and
Ghim Ping Ong (2012) has developed a single framework or structural equation which can be applied in
the overall modeling of the results stated considering all potential attributes affecting perceived quality.
There were already many equations that has been studied and applied in this type of analysis such as
the basic equations of the measurement models for the endogeneous and exogeneous variables as
shown below (Bollen, 1989).
These equations called also as SEM were then adopted by other authors and applied it to their own
researches Tardiff (1976), Golob et al. (1997), Golob and Hensher (1998), Morikawa and Sasaki (1998)
to model the travelers’ attitudes, perceptions, stated behavioral intentions, and actual behavior in travel.

Now, also based in the given equation, this study has developed his own but this time it is focused on
drivers point of view instead of travelers, and there were many factors considered for the perception
quality of drivers to derive the equation. The The figure below shows resulting structural model
considering all factors and attributes revolving around the drivers’ awareness and utilization of the
applications.

The structural model indicated that the perceived quality of ITIS is influenced by awareness, utilization,
perceived effectiveness, perceived necessity of the traffic information system, and driver expectations.
Based on the measurement models, factors which can affect each latent variable are determined. It was
found that driver awareness of traffic information system is heavily dependent on the frequency in which
various traffic information dissemination tools are used. Driver utilization is influenced by the amount of
departure time and route choice changes upon receiving the traffic information. Perceived usefulness,
reliability, accuracy, and the expected benefit of travel time saving are important considerations when
evaluating the perceived effectiveness of the traffic information system.
As per the writer’s conceptual idea, creating a structural model is very intellectual as people gives greater
appreciation to findings presented with concrete figures. Although this research have the same purpose
with the former ones discussed, the difference is very much evident as it gave a structural framework that
would show the percentages of drivers in their perception once they check out the traffic data in the app.
It is somewhat very significant to have these numerical boundaries as it can help for the development of
other researches. And as per the result of this study, the writer agrees that driver awareness and
utilization of traffic information is proportional to the amount of dissemination tools utilized by the road
enforcers.

For the last research, which has applied a discrete choice modeling approach in order to determine the
effectiveness of traffic information systems through the level of awareness and trust of users with IT IS.
This is a case study done by Hooi Ling Khoo and Ghim Ping Ong (2011) and entitled as “Analysis of
Awareness and Use of Traffic Information System with Revealed Preference Data.” With the methodology
stated in the title, it has found out same idea with former research wherein the level of awareness depends
on how traffic information is disseminated in the area. As an additional finding with regards to the trust of
the people to ITIS, this research has concluded that the region has limited trust in the accuracy of data
provided by ITIS and did not perceive such data to be useful in reducing their travel time.

This is very evident today because a portion of people mostly using the application are millennial who
would always choose faster applications and those who have features that are beyond expectations.
Thus, anyone would just give a negative comment to something that would not fill in their necessities,
such as these traffic information systems. Once they see that these applications give wrong or
inconsistent information, they would rather give up on the app or find something better. As per the results
found in this research, one possible reason that the system does not give that much accurate information
is the complexity of the roadways and routes reflected on the app. Another example is the real time
changes in the roadways which is not reflected immediately in the application.

A related study was conducted by K. Chatterjee and M. McDonald in cities of European-Union, main
emphasis in the paper is on drivers' reactions to VMS and the impacts of VMS on road network efficiency.
In this study, there is a different finding in which the deployments of VMS to inform drivers of traffic
conditions have proved successful in terms of improving network travel times and reducing environmental
impacts.
Conclusion

The studies stated has different objectives and methodologies but comes down to only one main purpose,
which is to determine whether the usage of VMS and traffic information systems is has an impact to
drivers’ decision and whether these are effective to be helpful methods for the drivers. All researches
were done completely and were able to conclude their research answering their objectives, which are
focused on the people living in the region of Klang Valley. In totality, these researches, with additional
insights from foreighn studies, have proven that these traffic information systems really affects the
decision making of the user as they see the different signs in the application. Also, with regards to the
effectiveness of these innovations, Klang Valley has a negative thought as they perceived these as
inaccurate programs. This was clearly opposite on other foreign researches who have conducted the
same study but has concluded that people found these technological advancements to be helpful for
them as a user. All in all, the main purpose of this paper has been obtained which is to summarize and
discuss the given researches and some related researches, and also to give insights and comments to
them.
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