01137516

Component

Future passenger transportation will continue to be affected by the worldwide oil situation, i.e. high prices, high demand and restricted supply. Current travel demand patterns have already shown response to recent increases in petrol prices and urban planners need to understand how people will adapt to continued fuel supply issues. This research proposes an innovative method to investigate adaptability of core travel patterns in response to high fuel prices. The method is implemented through a virtual reality, immersive game-style travel demand survey (TACA Sim) that has been designed to probe adaptive behavior change. TACA Sim features a travel survey innovation by providing feedback about the participant’s travel choices. This feedback about car dependency and risk to high prices may encourage participants to change their travel behavior. The game simulates several weeks in the participant’s core activities and related travel behavior and tracks their response to simulated fuel price rise. Under these simulated conditions, the participants have different levels of cost risk due to their personal travel behavior, their adaptability strategies and their access to various alternative transport modes. TACA Sim’s trial results confirm the method’s potential for obtaining core travel demand and adaptability data. Interviews of the trial participants indicate that people might be surprised or informed by the feedback and may be prompted to think about adaptive measures to reduce fuel use as the price increases.

01120148

09-2389

English

14p

2009

Transportation Research Board 88th Annual Meeting

DVD

Figures (4) ; References (17) ; Tables (2)

Elasticity (Economics); Fuels; Mode choice; Pricing; Simulation; Stated preferences; Travel costs; Travel demand; Travel surveys; Virtual reality

Data and Information Technology; Highways; I71: Traffic Theory

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2009 Paper #09-2389

BTRIS, TRIS, TRB

Jan 30 2009 6:44PM