Influencing Travel Behavior via an Open Source Platform

Multimodal transportation such as transit, bike, walk, transportation network companies (TNCs) (e.g., Uber, Lyft), car share, and bike share are vital to supporting livable communities. However, activity data of travelers using these modes have been difficult to acquire. Recent research conducted under the National Center for Transit Research developed and deployed a proof-of-concept system to passively collect multimodal travel behavior data from opt-in users of a popular open-source mobile app for multi-modal information, OneBusAway (OBA). This earlier study concluded that while the origin and destination data collected from 74 users appear promising, an in-depth effort to evaluate the accuracy of the activity transitions being captured by the app is necessary prior to large scale studies that rely on the data. This proposed project will further evaluate the data collected by the OneBusAway app. The accuracy and precision of the activity transition timing and location will be determined by comparing collected data against ground truth information. The research team will then compare the determined accuracy and precision of the data against the requirements for several activity-related research topics. Data from this tool, if proven accurate, could shed light on how first and last-mile connections could be improved, travel behavior of specific populations (e.g., older adults, people with disabilities), and as a basis for influencing and understanding changes in travel behavior, among many other research areas.

• Record URL:
  https://nicr.usf.edu/2020/12/11/3-1-influencing-travel-behavior-via-open-source-platform/

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $454259
• Contract Numbers:

  69A3551947136

  79070-12

  79070-00-B

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  National Institute for Congestion Reduction

  University of South Florida
  Tampa, FL  United States  33620
• Project Managers:

  Li, Xiaopeng

• Performing Organizations:

  National Institute for Congestion Reduction

  University of South Florida
  Tampa, FL  United States  33620

  Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI)

  400 Harvey Mitchell Parkway South
  Suite 300
  College Station, TX  United States  77845-4375

  University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez

  259, Avenida Alfonso Valdés Cobián, ,
  Mayagüez, Puerto Rico  United States  00681
• Principal Investigators:

  Barbeau, Sean

  Maness, Michael

  Turner, Shawn

  Valdes Diaz, Didier

• Start Date: 20200501
• Expected Completion Date: 20210930
• Actual Completion Date: 20220614
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers Program

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Accuracy; Data collection; Data quality; Mobile applications; Multimodal transportation; Travel behavior
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01751475
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: National Institute for Congestion Reduction
• Contract Numbers: 69A3551947136, 79070-12, 79070-00-B
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Sep 8 2020 8:54PM