Applying Geographic Information System Methodologies to Estimate the Catchment Area Accessibility of Park-and-Ride Facilities

Park and Ride (P&R) systems play a potentially important role in transportation planning to decrease the undesirable effects of private cars in the Central Business District (CBD). In order to achieve this objective, an essential component to be investigated is the catchment areas of these P&R facilities. However, a limited number of studies have applied the Geographic Information System (GIS) to study the spatial boundary accessibility of the catchment areas of P&R. This study aims to analyze the spatial boundary accessibility of the catchment areas of P&R facilities using three GIS methods. The first method uses geometric shapes to analyze the catchment areas of P&R facilities according to regular shapes, such as parabolas or circles. The market area is the second method used to analyze travel time via the tool ArcGIS Network Analyst to determine the catchment area of P&Rs. Finally, the dynamic accessibility method determines how accessible a facility can be through a study of the spatial boundary accessibility of P&Rs based on the travel time and distance between zones and P&R. The result shows that the static methods identify the spatial boundary accessibility through the calculation of the size of the shape of each P&R separately, while the dynamic method identifies the level of accessibility in detail for all P&R and also the accessibility of each zone to reach a facility. In conclusion, the dynamic accessibility method presents better accuracy than static methods in order to estimate the spatial boundary accessibility of the catchment area of P&Rs

An Approach to Comprehensively Evaluate Potential Park and Ride Facilities

ABSTRACTA park and ride facility provides an option to car drivers to park their cars and switch to public transportation for the remaining portions of their trips. Although park and ride has been implemented in many cities in the United States and integrated with different modes of transportation, no comprehensive approach has been developed in published literature to assess the feasibility of a potential park and ride site. This research proposes a comprehensive approach, which consists of the following tasks, to evaluate potential park and ride facilities: 1Site location analysis2Bus system reliability analysis3Parking supply and usage analysis4Mode choice model5User demand and ridership estimation6Cost estimation and economic impacts analysisThe application of the proposed tasks was demonstrated through a case study of a site in the City of El Paso, Texas

Spatio-temporal Modelling of Accessibility to Train Stations for Park and Ride (PnR) Users

Accessibility has been of critical importance to physical planning over the past 60 years. This study mainly focuses a spatial methodology framework to understand measure and model the Park and Ride (PnR) users’ accessibility to train stations, specifically including the characteristics of catchment areas, directional accessibility to train stations, spatial modelling of train stations’ catchment areas, and spatio-temporal modelling of accessibility to train stations

Enhanced Huff Model for Estimating Park and Ride (PnR) Catchment Areas in Perth, WA

A train station catchment area delineates the spatial territory from which the users of a train station are drawn. The size and shape of this catchment can be influenced by a variety of factors, such as the transport network, the location of stations and the service quality they offer, as well as the land use density and diversity in the transport corridor. Although numerous studies have been conducted to understand the size of catchment areas, limited research has focused on determining the spatial boundary (shape) of train station catchments. This paper develops a framework for deriving a spatial boundary of a Park and Ride (PnR) catchment area by incorporating the Huff model and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technologies. The approach is staged, firstly determining the PnR station choice as a function of the attractiveness of a train station and the cost of access between the origin (such as a suburb) and the destination of a trip (such as the Perth CBD). Linear referencing method is then applied to re-define the origins to train stations based on the derived station choice probability. Finally, the spatial boundary of a catchment area is determined according to the adjusted origins, using GIS technologies. The model outputs were evaluated against licence plate survey of station users, where the Kappa coefficient (0.74) and overall accuracy (0.88) statistic suggested that the model's results are robust. The paper then shows how catchment area data can be used to better manage travel demand and plan design solutions aimed at increased accessibility to train stations

Exploring passenger rail markets using new station catchment size and shape metrics

This paper presents a novel spatial market segmentation method to determine key user groups of a train station (such as gender, age and access mode), based on the size and shape of the station catchment area of each group. Two new indices–area ratio and composite ratio–are developed to quantify the importance of user groups for a train station. This method is applied to identify key user groups at seven train stations in Perth, Western Australia. The study offers a new way to explore the travel behaviour of train users and provides insights for rail transport planning and marketing

Travel Behavior of Car Travelers with the Presence of Park-and-Ride Facilities and Autonomous Vehicles

Travelers' behavior is predicted based on their individual preferences. People search for alternatives to maximize their benefit from doing activities, such as increasing the activity time by minimizing the travel time. Traffic congestion and the scarcity of parking spaces in the city center motivate the decision-makers to encourage travelers to use the park-and-ride (P&R) system. An evaluation concerning the impact of using the P&R system on the travel behavior of car users is conducted. Some of the existing P&R facilities are incorporated into the daily activity plans of car travelers to produce new daily activity plans (i.e., P&R facility is considered an activity). By using the Multi-Agent Transport Simulation (MATSim) open-source tool, simulations of the daily activity plans including the P&R system and autonomous vehicles (AVs) are conducted. The study examines three scenarios: (1) a simulation of the existing condition, (2) a simulation of the daily activity plans of the travelers with the P&R system, and (3) a simulation of the daily activity plans of the travelers with the P&R system and AVs. The results show that using the P&R system increases the overall travel time compared with the existing conditions, and the use of AVs as a transport mode impacts the existing modal share as follows: 64 % of the car users switch to AVs, while 15 % of the car users switch to public transport. The output of this study might be used by policy-makers in parking pricing and the location of the P&R facilities

Land Use as a Criterion for the Selection of the Trip Starting Locations of Park and Ride Mode Travelers

In the attempt to study Light Rail Transit (LRT) systems, and their necessary underlying components, such as Park and Ride (P&R) sub-systems, this article aims to showcase the importance of land-use as a criterion in the selection of trip starting locations (i.e., points), that can potentially be used as the basis for quantitative studies on LRT and P&R systems. In order to achieve this goal, a method is introduced for the selection of locations that produce P&R mode trips based on the land-use attributes of sub-zones or neighborhoods, as they are included in Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs). Those land-use attributes are utilized as sub-criteria for the classification and valid selection of trip starting locations out of a broader dataset of available locations. As a second supportive technique that needs to be utilized for this study, an algorithm is introduced, which allows us to test the effectiveness of the method and the importance of land use as a criterion. The algorithm enables the calculation and comparison of the attributes of the trips to be followed by P&R mode users starting from selected trip starting locations for each zone in a city and having as destinations the several available P&R facilities. Results for the methods introduced in this article are showcased based on a case study on the mid-sized city of Cuenca, Ecuador, in which, several metrics, such as traveling times considering different traffic scenarios, are examined for the potential P&R mode trips as they emerge from real-world data

A New Framework to estimate Pedestrians\u27 Transit Demand from Discrete Mode Choice Modelling applied toward the Prioritization of Pedestrian Infrastructure Investments in Knoxville, TN

The potential social, economic and environmental benefits associated with transit oriented developments encourage investments to enhance transit service, pedestrian infrastructure and parking opportunities. Boosting transit ridership, reducing traffic and congestion, supporting mixed land uses and improving public mobility are among a long list of benefits of a well-developed transit system. Understanding the travel behaviors within the studied areas is the key to finding the best methods to be utilized to attain these benefits. Many studies have focused on locating transit service areas to forecast ridership and apply the appropriate modifications to the existing or planned systems using travel behaviors of transit riders from transit on-boards surveys. Buffer distances were then used to confine service areas of potential transit demand. The bias associated with using transit users’ demographics and the exclusion of demand beyond buffer distances motivated the search for a new method to estimate the demand for transit. Utilizing a mode choice model in estimating transit demand excludes some of the limitations found in other methods. This model was used to estimate potential walk to transit trips from each residential household for home-based work trips for Knox County using estimated probabilities of walking to transit and work trip production rates. The total walk-to -transit trips were associated with the street segments utilized to reach a transit stop. These weights of total trips were then used to prioritize pedestrian infrastructure investments at higher transit demand segments. This method can also be utilized in the prioritization of other service enhancements and stop locations

A comparative analysis of the Park-and-Ride/transit-oriented development tradeoff

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2008.Includes bibliographical references (p. [73]-75).Park-and-ride provided metro regions with a mechanism to reduce commute-generated vehicle-miles traveled, by capturing vehicles in or near their home communities and allowing their drivers to travel to their destinations via transit. The hypothesis underlying this study is that the loss of commuter parking to transit-oriented development involves a tradeoff of one set of benefits (and costs) for another. By assessing the performance of existing park-and-ride facilities, and comparing the associated costs and benefits with those we might expect from transit-oriented development, decision-makers might make land-use decisions that more effectively advance local and regional goals. To that end, this study sets up a methodology to allow for an "apples-to-apples" comparison of the impacts of park-and-ride and transit-oriented development on regional vehicle-miles traveled. This methodology is flexible in its methods and its application, so that it may be adapted to a range of modeling tools and techniques, available data, and regional contexts. Data collected from commuter rail stations in the Boston metro region suggests that park-and-ride performance is more a factor of station distance from commuters' destinations than of the position of a station relative to others on the transit line. This result indicates that redevelopment of park-and-ride facilities in the Boston metro region should focus on cost-inefficient facilities in communities nearer to the CBD, where the benefits of transit-oriented development are also often greater.by Jason Burgess.M.C.P

Austin, Texas parkland active transportation accessibility : a GIS network analyst based approach

This report measures pedestrian and bicyclist accessibility to parklands in Austin, Texas. An overview of current parkland and active transportation planning practices in Austin is given to properly set the scope of study. Past literature regarding the measurement of spatial accessibility is reviewed to formulate a methodology with which to conduct the analysis. In particular, a framework is presented to create formalized pedestrian and bicyclist network datasets within ArcMap’s Network Analyst. Using these specialized network datasets, accessibility measures are calculated using origin destination travel between census block groups and parklands within Austin. From these calculated accessibility measures, levels of equity amongst various socioeconomic groups are studied in order to ascertain if there are any discrepancies between different groups level of access to parklands and availability of active transportation infrastructure. Findings indicate that no significant discrepancy in levels of access to parklands exist between socioeconomic groups studied, pointing to an equitable environment for Austin citizens.Community and Regional Plannin