This paper attempts to evaluate transportation system demand-management strategies--specifically, strategies to encourage transit and ridesharing--as a long-range solution to systemwide traffic congestion problems in the toledo metropolitan area. The toledo metropolitan area council of governments (tmacog) has forecasted that there will be severe congestion on major arterials and on the freeway and expressway system by the year 2010, and financial resources to addressthe problem will be limited. Innovative transit system designs, auto pricing, and ridesharing incentives that have been implemented elsewhere in north america were investigated. Their applicability to the toledo area was reviewed, and synergistic combinations of specificpolicies were developed for testing with computerized travel models. The results indicated that the most effective and economically efficient way to relieve forecasted congestion would be a policy that encourages both transit and ridesharing on a systemwide basis--through a high-frequency, multicentered, pulsing-scheduled transit system;a system of high-occupancy vehicle lanes; and use of auto pricing. The results of the evaluation also indicated that a combined transit/ridesharing-preferential strategy compares favorably with other strategies with respect to other objectives of tmacog's long-range transportation plan--transit viability, economic development, safety, and maximization of social and environmental benefits. The study made a useful contribution in assisting tmacog's long range plan task force in the development of transit and ridesharing policies for its year 2010 transportation plan. This paper appears in transportation research record no. 1209, Transit administration and planning research.
Abstract