Quality-of-Service Perceptions by Rural Freeway Travelers: Exploratory Analysis

Abstract

In recent years the Transportation Research Board's Highway Capacity and Quality of Service Committee (HCQSC) has debated how performance measures for defining level of service (i.e., service measures) for a facility should be selected. The historical approach has been for the HCQSC to select the measure (or measures) thought most appropriate. However, some committee members have been suggesting that the selection of service measures should be based on research involving the driving public at large and that this research should either directly or indirectly obtain information from drivers and passengers on perceptions of quality and level of service. A preliminary investigation determining the factors that affect traveler-perceived quality of service on rural freeways using in-field surveys of motorists traveling on rural freeways has been conducted. In regard to quality of service, it is becoming more evident that travelers consider multiple factors, and the results from this study support that notion. Specifically, the survey shows that most respondents consider three or more factors important in determining their quality of service on rural freeways. Although density still appears to be a primary factor affecting perceived quality of service, additional factors, such as speed variance and percentage of freeflow speed, seem just as important to travelers. In addition, some nontraffic-performance measures, such as pavement quality and driver etiquette, were found to be important.