Estimating the Effects of Urban Travel Policies

PDFTech ReportDOT-TSC-OST-76-10DOT-TSC-964BehaviorDisaggregate analysisMathematical modelsElasticity (Economics)EstimatingParkingLevel of serviceGasolineParking facilitiesPublic transitUrban transportationTaxationTaxesTransportation policyTravel demandTravel patternsUnited StatesUnited States. Dept. of Transportation. Office of the SecretaryDunbar, Frederick C.Charles River AssociatesJohn A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, (U.S.)United States. Dept. of Transportation. Office of the SecretaryNTL-ECONOMICS AND FINANCE-ECONOMICS AND FINANCENTL-ECONOMICS AND FINANCE-Economic ImpactsNTL-ECONOMICS AND FINANCE-FundingNTL-HIGHWAY/ROAD TRANSPORTATION-HIGHWAY/ROAD TRANSPORTATIONNTL-PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION-Transit Economics and FinancesNTL-PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION-PUBLIC TRANSPORTATIONVolpe National Transportation Systems Center, Technical Reference CenterThe report presents models and procedures for quick evaluation of transportation policy options on urban travel behavior. The methods described in this report can be used to estimate the travel demand effects of a wide variety of transportation policy instruments with currently available data in a matter of hours, or minutes, with the aid of a calculator. To evaluate the effects of a transportation policy, travel is separated into work and nonwork purposes. The work travel section of the report describes procedures for applying disaggregate logic models to generally available grouped data. To analyze the effects of policies on nonwork travel, a disaggregate travel demand model is estimated which is designed to be broadly applicable to a variety of planning and data contexts. Both the work and nonwork trip demand models and procedures are exercised on sets of policy issues which are of current interest, including gasoline taxes, parking restrictions, transit service improvements and the introduction of new modes. Where appropriate, travel demand elasticities with respect to level of service changes are computed