Unsticking Traffic: When Transit Works, and Why

1994PDFPolicy StatementPublic participationPublic opinionTransportation planningTraffic congestionDecision makingData collectionUser benefitsCorridorsCustomer serviceIntermodal systemsNational transportation systemPerformance evaluationsUrban transitUnited StatesUnited States. Federal Transit AdministrationHickling-Lewis-Brod, Inc.United States. Federal Transit AdministrationFederal Transit Administration 50th AnniversaryThe Urban Transportation Performance Monitoring System (UTPM) is a new and functional customer-oriented analytical method for measuring the performance of transportation on an intermodal level. UTPM is known as the "Mogridge-Lewis effect" after its primary investigators, Martin Mogridge and David Lewis. It is a systematic approach to the collection of travel-related data for all modes in an urban corridor over time, and designed to expose what customers actually gain from roads, transit, sidewalks, bikeways, parking facilities and the interconnected aspects of the transportation system. UTPM recognizes and seeks to understand the role of customers in determining the success of systems and technologies. The system makes and reports its measurements in a way that enables decision makers to identify the kinds of improvements that make people and the economy better. This report contains the results of selected corridor studies to evaluate the Mogridge-Lewis effect. It presents the objectives, design and implementation of the UTPM system in four corridors (Midtown Manhattan-Queens in New York City, Downtown Manhattan-Newark, San Diego-El Caion, and Chicago-Midway. The report describes what UTPM measures and how it assists in identifying relationships. It also explains the data analysis component of the UTPM system, i.e., the survey data entry process, the database and spreadsheet programs, etc. This system has potential uses in forming a part of the cost-benefit framework for empirical multimodal performance analysis and may be useful in implementing the National Transportation System.83