A. Similarities between Europe and North America
Please indicate whether you strongly agree (aa), somewhat agree (a), strongly disagree (dd), somewhat disagree (d), or neutral/no opinion (n) on each of the following statements. If you wish, you may expand your answers with texts. You may also add statements to this list.
Example: If you somewhat agree with the following statement, but only with
qualification, then you should put (a) after the statement and (optionally) add
a comment.
"Public funding is essential for successful ATIS business models" (a)
Public funding is needed mostly for data collection but not for data distribution.
Results: Average [Standard Deviation] shown
(Average = 100 if everyone strongly agrees; -100
if everyone strongly disagrees)
Public funding is essential, especially with regard to data collection. 61.5 [44.5]
Public sector should not look for private sector revenue to support ITS investments. 26.9 [66.8]
Public sector agencies should be prepared to underwrite all costs of specific information services they wish to provide. 38.5 [52.5]
Broadcast traveler information supported by advertisement has been proven to be viable. 46.2 [53.6]
Fee-based and advertising-based ATIS services are not viable yet. 7.7 [54.9]
Both Europe and North America need an enabling policy framework for public-private partnerships in ATIS. 23.1 [60.8]
Both Europe and North America need to have a complete information value chain for delivery of ATIS services. 50.0 [48.0]
The public objectives in ATIS (safety and traffic management) are the same in both continents. 30.8 [63.7]
Criteria for travelers’ willingness to pay are, in a descending order of priority: data quality, data coverage, bundling of different modes of travel information (automobile and transit), bundling of different kinds of information (weather, stocks, sports, news, and traffic), and bundling of different ITS services (security/rescue, ATIS, electronic payments, and wireless communications). 3.8 [45.8]
The trend of ATIS services in both continents is toward travel time forecasts. 23.1 [50.4]
The trend of ATIS data collection in both continents is toward increased reliance on floating vehicle data. –7.7 [58.3]
B. Differences between Europe and North America
Please indicate whether you strongly agree (aa), somewhat agree (a), strongly disagree (dd), somewhat disagree (d), or neutral/no opinion (n) on each of the following statements. If you wish, you may expand your answers with texts. You may also add statements to this list.
Results: Average [Standard Deviation] shown
(Average = 100 if everyone strongly agrees; -100
if everyone strongly disagrees)
The fundamental and important differences between Europe and North America related to ATIS are differences in culture, land-use, and demography. 30.8 [50.1]
Europe, through the use of DATEX, is ahead of North America in moving toward interoperable traffic data exchange. 0.0 [39.2]
There is a higher diversity in traffic data sources and formats in Europe than in North America due to diversity of countries, more diverse modes of transport, and more diverse modes of private sector involvement policies (e.g., France/Netherlands being more publicly oriented versus Germany/UK being more privately oriented). 15.4 [30.3]
There is a larger traffic "data gap" in North America than in Europe (in other words, there are more roads wired in Europe than in North America). 7.7 [58.3]
European agencies provide greater amount and wider range of ATIS information to travelers than their counterparts in North America. 11.5 [44.5]
Private ATIS companies (e.g., Trafficmaster) in Europe are closer than their North American counterparts to being financially independent of public subsidies. –3.8 [41.4]
Europe has a more formal and conscious policy statement regarding private sector participation in ATIS activities. 26.9 [50.4]
Formal agreements (mostly in the form of Memo of Understanding) are prerequisite for ATIS public-private partnerships but are frequently not necessary in North America. -26.9 [46.5]
ATIS organizational cooperation is more horizontal (between parallel countries and transport modes) in Europe but is more vertical (between state-level responsibility for expressways and city-level responsibility for arterials). 0.0 [43.9]
Compared to Europe, North American ATIS services put much greater emphasis on integration of traffic information across jurisdictions than across modes (e.g., between mass transit and automobile traffic). 46.2 [41.4]
It is more complicated in North America than in Europe for private ATIS enterprises to negotiate agreements with the public agencies. 19.2 [50.1]
Most European ATIS firms can go to a single public source for traffic data whereas most North America firms need to go to multiple public sources for the data. 7.7 [51.3]
North American consumers are more reluctant than European consumers to pay for traffic information due to the more deeply-rooted car culture in North America. –11.5 [62.5]
Please prioritize the following issues for electronic discussion. For example, [2,5,4,1,3] would mean the 2nd issue is the most important and the 3rd would be least important.
Results: Average points shown (100 maximum)
Compared with Europe, are North American transportation agencies more interested in preserving current modes of public funding than trying out financial innovation and, if so, why? 15.6
Where should the line be drawn between free public information and paid private information in any country or region? 64.6
What should the public agencies do in their traffic sensor investments in view of the uncertain rate of development and implementation in floating car usage? 56.3
Do we need further studies to prove that travel time reliability is the principal benefit to users? 46.9
How do we distinguish the success and failure of a business model from the success and failure of its implementation? (In other words, should we abandon a business model just because its implementation has failed?) 66.7
[Four additional issues have been suggested for electronic discussion as given in Appendix F.]
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