VISITOR PERCEPTIONS OF INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS IN A NATIONAL PARK

Congestion in national parks is an issue of concern for both visitors and managers. Increased visitation has resulted in a need to plan and manage for a balance between the visitor experience and resource protection. Understanding access issues, in particular as a way to ease congestion, improve the quality of the visitor experience, and maintain the integrity of the resource is integral to this process. In 1991 Congress created the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) program to address the needs of the transportation network in the United States. ITS solutions include technologies such as electronic toll collection and electronic message signs. This study examined visitor attitudes toward and intent to use ITS in two of the national park units in California. The findings suggest a positive relationship exists between attitude and intention in regard to ITS tools in national parks, and between technology experience and intent to use technology at the study parks.

[1]  Dorothy H. Anderson,et al.  Paddle canoeists’ encounter norms in Minnesota's boundary waters canoe area wilderness , 1996 .

[2]  J. Gramann.  Toward a behavioral theory of crowding in outdoor recreation: An evaluation and synthesis of research , 1982 .

[3]  L. Doob,et al.  The behavior of attitudes. , 1947, Psychological review.

[4]  B. L. Driver,et al.  Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior to Leisure Choice. , 1992 .

[5]  Jane Klobas,et al.  Adults Learning To Use the Internet: A Longitudinal Study of Attitudes and Other Factors Associated with Intended Internet Use , 2000 .

[6]  Roger L. Moore,et al.  Predicting Motivations and Attitudes of Users of a Multi-use Suburban Trail , 2002 .

[7]  L. L. Thurstone,et al.  The measurement of social attitudes. , 1931 .

[8]  I. Ajzen,et al.  Understanding Attitudes and Predicting Social Behavior , 1980 .

[9]  Edward E. Lawler,et al.  Motivation in Work Organizations , 1975 .

[10]  M. E. Patterson,et al.  Backcountry encounter norms, actual reported encounters, and their relationship to wilderness solitude. , 1990 .

[11]  J. Stevens.  Applied Multivariate Statistics for the Social Sciences , 1986 .

[12]  Patrick Y. K. Chau,et al.  Physician acceptance of telemedicine technology: an empirical investigation. , 1999, Topics in health information management.

[13]  A. Graefe,et al.  Factors contributing to perceptions of recreational crowding , 1983 .

[14]  T. Heberlein.  Social Psychological Assumptions of User Attitude Surveys: The Case of the Wildernism Scale , 1973 .