EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF LEISURE DRIVER DECISION STRUCTURES UNDERLYING SA/PA CHOICE BEHAVIORS ON EXPRESSWAYS IN JAPAN

Recently, it has been recognized that leisure drivers have a variety of needs when using expressways and that service and parking areas (SA/PAs) are required to offer not only traditional rest stop services but also additional services, such as refreshments, dining, and souvenir shopping. As previous research on driver decisions related to SA/PA choice behaviors is limited, it is necessary to identify the factors determining SA/PA choice behaviors to develop marketing strategies for promoting SA/PA use. Therefore, one of the objectives of this research is to analyze leisure driver SA/PA choice behaviors and their level of customer satisfaction with SA/PA services. A paper-based questionnaire was administered to the drivers who stopped at the studied SA/PAs on the survey day; a web-based survey is planned as a complementary survey. Structural equation modeling was applied to represent the decision structure underlying SA/PA choice behavior. We also discuss marketing strategies to promote SA/PA use for leisure drivers. In addition, a SA/PA choice model was developed to identify whether a given driver would stop at any of the studied SA/PAs or not and to identify which SA/PA would be chosen.