Daily Travel Feedback to Encourage Eco-Routing
Project Title
Daily Travel Feedback to Encourage Eco-Routing
University
University of Idaho
Principal Investigator
Mike Lowry, Kevin Chang, Ryan Cook, Brett Seely
U of I Civil & Environmental Engineering
PI Contact Information
U of I Civil & Environmental Engineering
Funding Sources and Amounts Provided
US Department of Transportation/TranLIVE — $39,994
University of Idaho — $39,994
Total Project Cost
$79,988
Agency ID or Contract Number
DTRT12GUTC17; KLK913
Start Date
8/25/13
End Date
3/31/15
Description of Research Project
“People are creatures of habit.” This cliché is especially true in terms of the four commonly recognized travel choices: when to travel (also called trip choice), where to travel (destination choice), how to travel (mode choice), and which way to go (route choice). When making these decisions, people are often unaware of other travel options or don’t realize the benefits from choosing differently. For example, some people might not realize that, for a particular trip, walking is actually a fairly feasible option. Likewise, people might not comprehend the personal savings in fuel costs or the benefits to society by choosing to ride the bus. Most people typically don’t know even a rough estimate of how much their travel choices contribute to vehicle emissions and fuel consumption.
This project will create tools to provide people daily feedback about their travel choices and investigate how the feedback changes opinions and behavior. The goal of this project is to help people make travel decisions that will reduce vehicle emissions and fuel consumption.
Implementation of Research Outcomes
Figure 1. GPS tracks of 53 study participants for one week.
Figure 2. Screenshot of data collection website.
Impacts and Benefits of the Project
Paper
- Chang, K. Lowry, M., Seely, B., and Cook, R. (2015). “Using a Responsive Interactive Program to Enhance Daily Travel Feedback” Transportation Research Board 94th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers. National Research Council, Washington, D.C.
Web Links
Final Report: UI_TranLIVE_FinalReport_Daily Travel Feedback
Keywords
- Eco-routing