Travel Behavior Data Collected Using GPS and PHS

Generally travel behavior data are collected by self-reported questionnaire surveys. Problems with these methods include lack of reporting for short trips, poor data quality on travel start and end times, travel times, and destination locations. The burden on the respondent is also very large. The detailed and accurate travel data should be needed to evaluate the effects of TDM strategies and ITS technologies on travel behavior, but it would be difficult using traditional questionnaire surveys. This paper aims to develop travel behavior data collecting systems using global positioning system (GPS), personal handyphone system (PHS) and geographic information system (GIS), and to examine the effectiveness of the data collected by these systems and the applicability for travel behavior surveys. We conducted the surveys of collecting travel behavior data by GPS and PHS, with travel and activity diary over a week. We collected GPS data of vehicle trips in two local cities from 15 and 28 commuters respectively, and PHS data of person trips of 30 people in a local city. Examples of day-to-day variability analyses of travel distances, times, speeds and routes of trips, are shown using data collected by GPS. We examined the characteristics of PHS data and the differences of travel start and end times, comparing PHS data with diary data, for elderly and non-elderly people. Also comparison between datasets of the two age groups was done. Improvements of these new systems for practical use to travel surveys are summarized.