QUALITY OF TRANSIT SERVICE INFORMATION AND TRAVELERS' MODE CHOICES

Mode choice models are often used in travelers' behavior modeling and transportation demand analysis, on which transit operators might base their policy and operations planning. In practice, observed or published attribute values (e.g., fare) rather than perceived attribute values of each traveler are used in the forecast. In reality, perception biases of the actual attribute values are likely to happen due to lack of convenient access to information. Fare and travel time, for example, are often not precisely known to all travelers. Therefore, there are variations in the perceived transit service attributes among travelers. Transit operators might be lured to manipulate the quality of information provided to the public in order to maximize profits. Will the provision of perfect information, and therefore the removal of these biases in attribute perceptions, be beneficial to travelers, operators and the overall system? This paper studies the problem with the illustration of a simulated case.