Effects of long-term access to ICT-mediated travel information services - Users’ assessments and reported behavioural changes

Doctoral thesis, 2014

Great optimism has for some time framed the potential effects that access to ICT-mediated travel information services (ICTIS) have on travellers. Little has however been known about real-life long-term effects of access to ICTIS. The aim of this thesis was thus to create a basis for understanding the role of ICTIS in urban transport of people. The focus was on changes in travellers’ assessments of ICTIS; the changes in travel experiences from having access to ICTIS; and behavioural changes such as changes in choice of travel mode and route choice from having access to ICTIS. All in all, more than a thousand respondents participated in four studies investigating changes over time periods between six months and twelve years. The results show that travellers’ pre-exposure expectations on benefit and impacts are larger than what is experienced from use. The results also showed that travel experiences changes from access to ICTIS, and that access to ICTIS does have potential to change travel behaviour. Magnitudes of behavioural changes were however found to be limited. It is suggested that a larger focus on the travellers’ benefits, time perspectives, and the travellers’ possibilities to act could increase intended changes from access to ICTIS.