Drivers’ social routing behavior: Evidence from stated and revealed preferences experiments in two European cities

Trip information and navigation systems are expected to become key components of future traffic management strategies, which, if properly exploited, may contribute to the mitigation of car usage externalities. In this study, we investigate social routing recommendations, which could be associated with nudges, and delivered via a navigation app, aiming at promoting sustainable routing behavior, where some drivers are asked to take longer routes and make travel time sacrifices (TTS). In particular, we propose a framework including data collection and behavioral modeling to identify the impacts of various types of information delivered to drivers, goals of the detour, and personal characteristics on drivers’ TTS behavior. The methodology includes stated choice and revealed choice experiments in two European cities, Amsterdam and Helsinki, and a mixed ordered-response logit model to provide insights into TTS behavior. Our analyses show that delivering different information and nudges results in different levels of TTS that can be achieved. However, regardless of the goal of the detour, offering incentives to drivers enables achieving a higher level of TTS. Comparing the stated and revealed datasets also clarifies significant differences between these two types of data.