CONSIDERATIONS FOR EVALUATING THE VICS BENEFITS

The VICS (Vehicle Information and Communication System) began service to ordinary roads throughout the Tokyo area, to expressways around Tokyo, and to main expressways (the Tomei and Meishin Inter-City Expressways) in April 1996. In December 1996, service was initiated to roads in Osaka and to expressways around Osaka. VICS information service commenced for ordinary roads and inner-city expressways throughout Aichi Prefecture and to all inter-city expressways in Japan in April 1997. The area of operations will continue to be expanded and it is expected that VICS service will be provided to ordinary roads in all major cities in the country in the near future. In this paper, the authors analyze how effectively the VICS information has been utilized by users and the actual effectiveness of the system since the start of operations. A variety of tests promoted by the VICS Center before and after operation are also described. The evaluation test showed that VICS information is effective at reducing travel times. For the covering abstract, see IRRD 490001.