Promoting Intermodal Connectivity at California’s High Speed Rail Stations

High-speed rail (HSR) has emerged as one of the most revolutionary and transformative transportation technologies, having a profound impact on urban-regional accessibility and inter-city travel across Europe, Japan, and more recently China and other Asian countries. One of HSR’s biggest advantages over air travel is that it offers passengers a one-seat ride into the center of major cities, eliminating time-consuming airport transfers and wait times, and providing ample opportunities for intermodal transfers at these locales. Thus, HSR passengers are typically able to arrive at stations that are only a short walk away from central business districts and major tourist attractions, without experiencing any of the stress that car drivers often experience in negotiating such highly congested environments. Such an approach requires a high level of coordination and planning of the infrastructural and spatial aspects of the HSR service, and a high degree of intermodal connectivity. But what key elements can help the US high-speed rail system blend successfully with other existing rail and transit services? That question is critically important now that high-speed rail is under construction in California. The study seeks to understand the requirements for high levels of connectivity and spatial and operational integration of HSR stations and offer recommendations for seamless, and convenient integrated service in California intercity rail/HSR stations. The study draws data from a review of the literature on the connectivity, intermodality, and spatial and operational integration of transit systems; a survey of 26 high-speed rail experts from six different European countries; and an in-depth look of the German and Spanish HSR systems and some of their stations, which are deemed as exemplary models of station connectivity. The study offers recommendations on how to enhance both the spatial and the operational connectivity of high-speed rail systems giving emphasis on four spatial zones: the station, the station neighborhood, the municipality at large, and the region

Understanding Transit Ridership Demand for a Multi-Destination, Multimodal Transit Network in an American Metropolitan Area, Research Report 11-06

This study examines the factors underlying transit demand in the multi-destination, integrated bus and rail transit network for Atlanta, Georgia. Atlanta provides an opportunity to explore the consequences of a multi-destination transit network for bus patrons (largely transit-dependent riders) and rail patrons (who disproportionately illustrate choice rider characteristics). Using data obtained from the 2000 Census, coupled with data obtained from local and regional organizations in the Atlanta metropolitan area, we estimate several statistical models that explain the pattern of transit commute trips across the Atlanta metropolitan area. The models show that bus riders and rail riders are different, with bus riders exhibiting more transit-dependent characteristics and rail riders more choice rider characteristics. However, both types of riders value many of the same attributes of transit service quality (including shorter access and egress times and more direct trips) and their use of transit is influenced by many of the same variables (including population and employment). At the same time, the factors that influence transit demand vary depending on the type of travel destination the rider wishes to reach, including whether it is the central business district (CBD) or a more auto-oriented, suburban destination. The results of the study offer new insights into the nature of transit demand in a multi-destination transit system and provide lessons for agencies seeking to increase ridership among different ridership groups. The results suggest that more direct transit connections to dispersed employment centers, and easier transfers to access such destinations, will lead to higher levels of transit use for both transit-dependent and choice riders. The results also show that the CBD remains an important transit destination for rail riders but not for their bus rider counterparts. Certain types of transit-oriented development (TOD) also serve as significant producers and attractors of rail transit trips

National and international freight transport models: overview and ideas for further development

This paper contains a review of the literature on freight transport models, focussing on the types of models that have been developed since the nineties for forecasting, policy simulation and project evaluation at the national and international level. Models for production, attraction, distribution, modal split and assignment are discussed in the paper. Furthermore, the paper also includes a number of ideas for future development, especially for the regional and urban components within national freight transport models

Intermodal Mobility

Cities around the world are facing a multitude of mobility challenges. Driven by an increase in the number of personal motor vehicles, traffic and traffic congestion are becoming more frequent, parking spaces are becoming more scarce (while also taking up public space), and the urban population is increasingly exposed to air pollution and noise with potentially negative health effects (Arnott and Inci 2006; Arnott and Small 1994; Barth and Boriboonsomsin 2008; Loukopoulos et al. 2005). In addition to producing CO2 and other harmful emissions, personal cars are used inefficiently. It is estimated that they stand unused 95% of the time (Barter 2013) and, when driving, carry only 1.7 persons on average (US Department of Transportation 2011). At the same time, the number of people living in cities is expected to continually increase in both relative and absolute terms. The share of the urban population has been estimated to increase to 66% by 2050, up from 54% in 2014 (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs 2014). Thus, the ongoing urbanization trend will likely exacerbate urban mobility challenges in the near future

Modus D3.1 Modal choice analysis and expert assessment

Modus Deliverable 3.1 has the objective to identify and assess (future) drivers that influence passenger demand and supply of mobility, and how these affect passenger modal choice. A comprehensive literature review is provided and identifies a set of high-level and detailed drivers of supply and demand. This analysis is complemented by an expert survey, to gain initial high-level insights regarding the potential importance of various factors, and by a multimodality workshop, to identify additional factors and acquire a first insight into potential enablers and barriers of future mobility solutions. Combining all the identified drivers reveals that most drivers are of a social, economic or technological nature. A large number of social drivers are demand drivers concerned with the passenger aspects of mobility. On the other hand, a large number of economic drivers belong to the supply drivers concerned with various cost-related factors or with transport operations, the market structure and available infrastructure

Assessing the Performance of Modal Interchange for Ensuring Seamless and Sustainable Mobility in European Cities

In the European Union, more than 70% of the population lives in urban areas. Achieving more efficient and low-carbon mobility is crucial to ensuring urban systems are sustainable and tackling important challenges, such as reduction of CO2 emissions, air and noise pollution, and traffic congestion. Identifying effective strategies and design solutions that boost multimodal mobility and effective interchange among different sustainable means of transport can be a significant contribution in this area. This paper presents an easy-to-use methodology to assess the performance of policy measures and design solutions-oriented to foster modal interchange, with special regard to the configuration of the interchange hubs. The methodology is based on identifying key factors necessary to ensure an efficient multimodal interchange and the different types of interchanges that are frequently present in the urban realm. By grouping the key factors into nine different domains, and by weighing the key factors in relation to their importance, the methodology creates a decision support system to assess the performance of the current interchange, as well as of different planning and design scenarios. This methodology has been developed in the framework of the Interreg Europe MATCH-UP project and is conceived to support both designers and decision-makers whenever they have to reorganise existing transport hubs and policies, or design and plan new ones

Modus D5.1 Definition of use cases

Within the Modus project, one of the main goals is to analyse how the performance of the overall European transport system can be optimized by considering the entire door-to-door journey holistically and considering air transport within an integrated, multimodal approach. In this regard, it is essential to identify the main barriers in achieving European (air) mobility goals and how air transport can evolve by efficiently connecting information and services with other transport modes to achieve a seamless journey experience for passengers. For this particular purposes, a set of use cases is identified and defined within this deliverable D5.1