Integrating Travelers and Transit into Solutions for Congestion Relief

Real-time highway and transit information, when presented in parallel, has the potential to influence travelers to make informed decisions to choose transit when highways are congested to save time and make the transit trip less stressful and more productive or pleasurable. The mode shifts by commuters can potentially relieve traffic congestion, reduce fuel consumption, and lower tailpipe emissions. Under the sponsorship of USDOT and California Department of Transportation, California PATH at University of California at Berkeley developed and field tested Path2go--a suite of both web-based and mobile-phone-based applications to assess if integrated multimodal real-time traveler information can enable travelers to make choice decisions. Evaluation of data collected through field testing showed that the Path2go application performed well with regard to its capability to integrate real-time, multimodal information; the accuracy and reliability of the information; its usefulness in helping users to reduce waiting time and overall travel time; and its effectiveness in encouraging travelers to consider transit as a more viable choice.