INFORMATION INTEGRATION MODELS OF TRANSPORTATION DECISIONS

This paper describes an ongoing research program in which behavioral analyses are being applied to transportation-related decisions and judgments. The analyses are being carried out within a theoretical framework for developing decision-making models in psychology. The studies described in the paper were designed to show that transportation consumer behavior can be analyzed in an experimental context which can provide some valuable insights into the processes underlying transportation-related decisions. In two of the studies, subjects indicated the relative likelihood of using an automobile or taking a bus in a series of hypothetical mode choice situations, described by variations in cost-differences and travel time differences. The subjects in these studies seemed to base their mode choice responses on a weighted average of these factors. There were, however, individual differences in weighting policies. A behavioral measures of each subject's response preference was useful in predicting his weighting policy, while his nominal group membership was not. Follow-up studies were designed to relate individual differences to antecedent conditions (e.g., the individual's previous experience and knowledge of local transit parameters) and to use this information to effect desired changes in behavior. /Author/