Willingness to use advanced traveler information systems in Austria

Advanced traveler information systems (ATIS) have been implemented within the last years. But despite sufficient market penetration user acceptance still lags behind. Results of a survey in Austria show that only a small part of the population knows ATIS. Willingness to use ATIS is generally low, although slightly higher for exceptional, nonroutine trips. Younger persons and employed persons without a personal car currently use the Internet more often for obtaining travel information and state higher intentions to use ATIS than other population groups. However, age is only a proxy indicator for the determinants of willingness to use ATIS. Among a scope of possible explanatory variables only attitudes towards information and communication technologies are relevant. Convergent, discriminant and external validity of the attitude measurement is established. The personal experiences with the current transport system people acquire over many years are sufficient for their everyday mobility. Use of ATIS might increase if innovative, inter-/multimodal transport services are introduced which require more effort in scheduling, which in turn demands more detailed traveler information. Additionally, increased market penetration and acceptance of information and communication technologies could raise corresponding attitudes and thus willingness to use ATIS.