Should Legacy Highway Advisory Radio and Citizens’ Band Radio Advisory Systems be Continued? Analysis of Traveler Usage and Satisfaction Regarding These Systems

Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS) are important to provide travelers accurate, up-to-date travel information. With the advent of new ATIS technologies, such as smartphone applications, roadway agencies need to understand how travelers use existing ATIS technologies, such as the legacy Highway Advisory Radio (HAR). The University of Central Florida implemented three traveler surveys and one truck driver survey to obtain the opinions of Florida roadway users regarding HAR, Citizens’ Band Radio Advisory System (CBRAS), and other traffic information sources. Travelers typically preferred DMS (32%), smartphone applications (23%), and vehicle navigation devices (21%) for general traffic information. 57% of travelers were aware of HAR and 42% of these travelers had used HAR, with 84% of HAR users expressing satisfaction with HAR. Additionally, 87% of travelers said they would use HAR during emergencies, such as hurricanes. A tree model targeting user satisfaction was developed, which showed that HAR users who thought HAR should be continued or would use HAR in emergencies, as well as more frequent HAR users, were more likely to be satisfied. Only 12% of surveyed truck drivers had ever used CBRAS, but these users tended to utilize CBRAS frequently and 92% indicated satisfaction with CBRAS. Truck drivers preferred vehicle navigation devices (28%) and smartphone applications (22%) to receive traffic information. Even though these surveys indicate that new technologies are more popular than HAR and CBRAS, these older systems satisfy users and should be kept for redundancy, such as if cellular communications fail during emergency situations.