This chapter provides an overview of the studies in the literature related to ICT and accessibility. The overview aims to form theoretical and knowledge basis for the research
presented in this thesis as well as to derive knowledge that is expected to be of relevance to future related research.
Three literature overviews, including the relevance of these overviews to the research in this thesis, are presented:
1. A literature overview of the accessibility measures (section 2.3)
This overview aims to provide inputs from the area of accessibility measures, for the development of the accessibility model in this research (see Chapter 4) and for future related studies. The overview first presents an overview of four categories of physical accessibility measures that do not consider any ICT-related factors, including a) proximity-based, b) space/time-based, c) activity-based, and d) utility-based accessibility measures. The advantages and limitations of these measures are also discussed from a general perspective. Given the research interest, the overview further provides an overview of the models that have been developed in the literature to measure ICT’s effects on accessibility.
Concluded from this overview, it seems that to date few models that are able to measure ICT’s effects on accessibility yet exist, and no model explicitly takes into consideration both travel information and teleactivities. However, in light of the expected interaction with regard to travelers’ use of travel information and teleactivities, there is a need for a generic, integrative and quantitative model that is able to measure the effects of different forms of ICT – information-related technologies for travel information and telecommunication-related technologies for teleactivities, including their potential interactions – on accessibility. This forms the primary aim of this research. In addition, a random utility theoretical framework is adopted in the accessibility model development in this thesis (Chapter 4), for two reasons: a) it is critical to take into consideration travel behavior in the development of a model for measuring ICT’s effects on accessibility; and b) random utility-measures are advantageous in terms of theoretical soundness, behavioral realism, operationalization, and usability for economic evaluation.
2. A literature overview of ICT’s (potential) effects on accessibility (section 2.4)
This overview aims to provide insights into ICT’s (potential) effects on accessibility that are expected to be both of scientific relevance and practical implications. First, the overview provides an overview of the effects of teleactivities on travel behavior, including a) the effects of teleactivities on people’s travels – whether or not teleactivities substitute, generate, or modify travels; b) the effects of ICT on the way people conduct activities, and in turn on people’s travel behavior; and c) the effects of teleactivities on disutilities of physical travels and space-time constraints. Secondly, the overview presents an overview of the effects of travel information on travel behavior. Thirdly, this overview also discusses several important factors that are of relevance to ICT use and ICT’s effects on travel behavior. Finally, the overview also presents an overview of ICT’s effects on accessibility.
Concluded from the overview, it seems that in comparison to the ample studies into ICT’s effects on travel behavior, studies into ICT’s effects on accessibility are still sparse. The understanding of the effects of ICT on accessibility is still very limited because of the lack of analytical frameworks and methodologies. There is still a need for new models to measure the potential effects of ICT on accessibility. In particular, travel behavior, given its importance, should be taken into consideration. A model for accessibility measurement without considering travelers’ choice and preference would overlook some important (potential)
effects of ICT on accessibility, resulting in biased measurement of accessibility. However, given the complexity of the topic, it seems impossible to include all types of ICT’s effects into one model, while still keeping the tractability of the developed model at an acceptable level. Given these arguments, a rather general perspective is adopted in the model development in this thesis (see Chapters 4, and 5). The model for accessibility measurement developed in this thesis neither aims to include all types of ICT’s effects, nor aims to particularly focus on one type of ICT’s effects. Rather, the focus of the model for accessibility measurement in this thesis will be on the consideration of both teleactivities and travel information, including their potential interactions, and several key effects of ICT.
3. A literature overview of the models and methods for the study of ICT choice and ICT’s effects on travel behavior (section 2.5)
This overview aims to derive knowledge of research methods from previous studies and as such to provide inspiration for this research, and also aims to provide references that are expected to be of relevance for future related research. First, this section provides an overview of the theories and the conceptual models used to study travelers’ choices of ICT and the effects of ICT-use on travel behavior, including a) the theories/conceptual models to study user acceptance and use of ICT; b) the theories/conceptual models to study traveler’s choices of teleactivities and the related effects on travels; and c) the theories/conceptual models to study the use of travel information and the related effects on travels. Secondly, the overview provides an overview of the data collection methods that have been used for data collection in empirical studies, and discusses the advantages and limitations of these methods from a general perspective. The addressed data collection methods include: a) interview; b) activity- travel diary; c) questionnaire survey; d) simulator experiment; and e) field observation. Thirdly, the section presents an overview of the data analysis methods/models that have been used in the literature for data analysis, and discusses the characteristics and applicability of these data analysis methods/models from a general perspective. The addressed data analysis methods/models include: a) discrete choice models (DCM); b) structural equation models (SEM); and c) singular equation approaches (SEA).
This overview provides knowledge for the conducted research presented in this thesis. First, the literature overview of the theories and the conceptual models for the study of travelers’ choice of ICT and ICT’s effects on travel behavior provides knowledge for the model development that are presented in the following chapters of this thesis, including a) a structural equation model for the interactions between travelers’ use of travel information and telecommunication facilities and their relationships with other possible factors (Chapter 3); b) a utility-based accessibility model that measures the effects of travel information and teleactivities, including their potential interactions, on accessibility (Chapter 4); and c) a RUM-based discrete-choice behavioral model that is translated from the developed accessibility model for traveler’s choices of ICT under conditions of risks and constraints for data analysis (Chapter 5). Secondly, the literature overview of the data collection methods for the study of travelers’ choice of ICT and ICT’s effects on travel behavior and the discussion of their advantages and limitations provide knowledge for the data collection in this thesis. More specifically, based on the insights derived from this part of the overview, the methods of web- survey and simulator experiment are adopted as the data collection methods in this research. Thirdly, the overview of the data analysis methods/models that have been used in the literature to study travelers’ choices for ICT use and their effects on travel behavior, including the discussion of their characteristics and applicability, provides knowledge for the data analysis in this thesis. In particular, based on the discussion of each method’s characteristics
and applicability, this thesis adopts structural equation model (SEM) and discrete choice model (DCM) as the main data analysis methods/models.
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3 Travelers’ preferences for travel information
and teleworking services: results from a web
survey
Abstract
To understand the impact of ICTs on accessibility, one needs to understand the impact of ICTs on traveler behavior. A necessary condition for ICTs to influence traveler behavior is that travelers actually use ICTs that are available to them. Understanding travelers’ decisions whether or not to use ICTs is therefore a crucial element of any model that aims to understand the impact of ICTs on accessibility. Given that travelers are generally not forced to use ICTs, their decisions to (not) use ICTs can be safely assumed to be the result of their underlying preferences; this Chapter empirically studies these preferences of travelers for ICTs.
As argued in Chapter 1, it appears more than reasonable to expect that travelers’ preferences for travel information (the “I” in ICT) and teleworking and telecommunication facilities (the “C” in ICT) could be interrelated. However, whether or not the expectation is realistic is still not clear. As such, it is unclear to what extent these interactions should be considered in research concerning travelers’ choices of travel information and telecommunication facilities. It hence becomes important to obtain empirical insights into the possibly interrelated nature of preferences for travel information and telecommunication functionalities of ICT, in advance of further behavioral model development.
In accordance with this aim, this chapter presents a preliminary empirical study based on a web-survey that was conducted among Dutch commuters; it uses structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis to answer the following research questions – a) whether (and to what extent) a
correlation exists between travelers’ preferences for teleworking58 and travel information as expected, and b) what are the relations between travelers’ preferences for teleworking and travel information and other factors that could be of influence, such as travelers’ perception of the reliability of commuting time, the availability and reliability of travel information, the availability of teleworking and the quality of teleworking environment and facilities. The analysis results confirm the expectation that travelers’ preferences for travel information and teleworking are, to a certain extent, interrelated. A positive correlation is found between travelers’ preferences for travel information and teleworking, implying that common underlying factors or personality traits exist that influence both travelers’ preferences for travel information and teleworking. This also implies that travelers who prefer to use travel information seem to also prefer teleworking and vice versa (as both are driven by the common underlying factors or personality traits). In addition, the study shows significant effects, on preferences, of other factors, including perceived availability of teleworking, perceived quality of teleworking environment and facilities, perceived reliability of commuting time, and perceived availability of travel information. However, it appears that for the sample used in this study, there are no cross effects between i) on the one hand the perceived availability of teleworking and the perceived quality of the teleworking environment and facilities and on the other hand their preferences for travel information, and ii) on the one hand the perceived availability and reliability of travel information and on the other hand preferences for teleworking.
3.1 Introduction
As argued before in Chapter 1, understanding travelers’ preferences for travel information (the “I” in ICT) and preferences for teleworking and telecommunication facilities (the “C” in ICT), and their possible interrelations, is important when analyzing ICT’s effects on travel behavior and in turn on accessibility. From a traveler’s behavioral perspective, it appears more than reasonable to expect that interactions may exist between the “I” and “C” in ICT. First, it is increasingly the case that travel information- and telecommunication-related facilities are integrated within the same device (e.g., a tablet that can be used to check travel information and can also be used to do teleworking). Secondly, it seems likely that traveler’s use of travel information and telecommunication facilities may be (partly) driven by same set of factors, such as an unreliable commuting time due to peak-hour congestions. Commuters may choose to acquire travel information to assess the commuting time or choose to telework from home in order to avoid congestion in this case. Thirdly, the traveler’s use of travel information and telecommunication facilities could be mutually influenced. For example, a commuter may choose to work from home after she has learnt from travel information that her commuting route from home to work is severely congested. Or consider an example that a commuter who likes working from home may more prefer acquiring travel information in the morning, given that she would like to make the decision whether or not to telework from home based on the received travel information.
Although these arguments seem to be rather reasonable, whether or not the expectation is realistic is not yet clear. As identified in the literature overview in Chapter 2, fruitful insights
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Note that the study is particularly confined to one type of teleactivities – teleworking, rather than other teleactivities (e.g., teleshopping), which is in line with the generic research interest of this PhD- research.
can be found in the literature with regard to the factors that may affect travelers’ choices of travel information or teleactivities. However, no empirical study explicitly explores whether there are common factors and to which extent these factors may jointly affect travelers’ choices of travel information and teleactivities. As such, it is unclear to what extent these interactions should be considered in research concerning travelers’ choices of travel information and telecommunication facilities. It hence becomes important to obtain empirical insights into the possibly interrelated nature of preferences for travel information and telecommunication functionalities of ICT, in advance of any further behavioral model development.
Given this background, this chapter presents a preliminary empirical study that aims to provide inputs for the following model development in this thesis and also provide related insights that are expected to be of practical interests. In particular, this preliminary study aims to explore a) whether (and to what extent) any correlation exist between travelers’ preferences for teleworking and travel information as expected, and b) what are the relations between travelers’ preferences for teleworking and travel information and other factors that could be of influence, such as travelers’ perception of the reliability of commuting time, the availability and reliability of travel information, the availability of teleworking and the quality of the teleworking environment and facilities.
The study is based on a web-survey among 261 Dutch commuters59 about their daily life behavior in terms of using travel information and teleworking, and their potential behavior in terms of using travel information and teleworking under hypothetical conditions. In addition, the survey also collected data about commuters’ actual use of ICT for teleworking, and commuters’ perception of relevant characteristics of travel information, teleworking, commuting and work. The study subsequently develops a structural model and uses structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze the collected data, in order to explore the possible interactions between the commuters’ preferences for travel information and teleworking, and their relationships with the other considered factors.
The results are expected to be of relevance to the following research in this thesis and are also expected to be of practical relevance. First, as will be detailed in Chapters 4 and 5, insights into whether there are common underlying factors influencing travelers’ choices of travel information and teleworking may serve as inputs for the model development phase. Secondly, these derived insights are also expected to be relevant to practitioners and policy makers in light of, on the one hand, the anticipated benefits of using ICT to improve accessibility, and, on the other hand, the increasing penetration of both travel information services and teleworking opportunities into people’s daily lives.
The following scope of study is adopted: first, the study focuses on travel information in general, rather than specific types of travel information (e.g., a particular type of information concerning a train schedule). Secondly, the study is confined to teleworking, rather than other teleactivities such as teleshopping, which is in line with the generic research interest underlying this thesis. Thirdly, the study focuses on commuters’ preferences for pre-trip travel
59 Note that the survey respondents include both commuters to work and people traveling for education
purposes (students). Normally traveling for education purposes is not considered as commuting; however, the term “commuters” is used for both categories from now on in this chapter, for the ease of communication.
information and teleworking from home before their morning commute. It implies that the data collection does not include other situations where, for example, a traveler teleworks during travels (e.g., working on the train from home to work) or acquires en-route travel information when driving from home to work. In addition, the recruited sample for the data collection is confined to Dutch commuters who go to work or study by car regularly or at least have the experience ever of doing so. Furthermore, note that the main interest of the study is to test the hypothesized relations between the above mentioned factors towards travelers’ preferences for teleworking and travel information. This study as such does not aim to (fully) explain travelers’ preferences for teleworking and travel information and to exhaust all possibly relevant factors. Finally, the study does not aim to forecast market shares for ICTs given certain contextual conditions, but rather wishes to study determinants of preferences for these ICTs.
The remainder of this chapter is structured as follows. Section 3.2 presents the conceptual model for the study. Section 3.3 introduces the data collection – how the conceptual model is operationalized into data needs and related survey questions – and presents the survey respondents. The data analysis and results are presented in section 3.4. Section 3.5 concludes this chapter.