The role of coordination costs in mode choice decisions: A case study of German cities

Abstract

In times of accelerating urbanization and environmental pollution, mode choice decisions (MCD) are a critical parameter in a city's appearance and its environmental impacts. Simultaneously, the emerging smartphone multimodal traveller information systems (SMTIS) simplifies the usage of multimodal trips and, therefore, enhance the options in MCD. Current MCD models, in addition to considering classic parameters like travel time and cost, also consider socioeconomic variables and latent variables, such as modal preferences or mode-specific characteristics. However, from the users' perspective, one main influence is currently still not sufficiently considered in these models: Coordination costs for planning the trip, such as looking-up time tables for public transport.Consequently, we introduced this variable in a multinomial logit model and made a representative survey in Germany for measuring the coordination effort and evaluating our model. Our results support our hypothesis that coordination costs have a significant impact on MCD. We therefore conclude that further developments in information systems together with supporting policies may influence the MCD and, hence lead to more sustainable cities in the future.

Park‐and‐ride choice behaviour under multimodal travel information—Analysis based on panel mixed logit model

“…In the literature related to mode choice behaviour that contains a P&R option, many existing publications have focused on socio-demographic variables such as income, education level, private car ownership, and P&R experience [14][15][16]; P&R facility factors such as transfer time, parking capacity, and service quality of public transit [16][17][18]; and trip-related factors such as travel time and travel cost [17,19,20]. However, the aforementioned studies have rarely investigated P&R choice behaviour in the context of information provision [21], which means that some additional influencing factors that are correlated with SMMI service, such as coordination effort [22], information accuracy, and travel recommendation [23], have not received much attention. The increasing abundance of information content makes travellers likely to take longer deliberation time to consider the trade-offs between multiple alternatives and make their own decisions.…”