Accessibility plays an important role in Dutch transport policy. However, strict definitions and analyses are pretty scarce. Therefore, the TNO Institute of Spatial Organization (INRO-TNO) has carried out a study to define and work out the concept of accessibility for different policy purposes. The study was carried out under the Project Bureau for Integrated Transport Studies (PB IVVS) contract. Practical alternative methods for measuring the accessibility of locations for housing, working and services are developed. By means of case studies in the cities of The Hague and Eindhoven, these methods are tested on their applicability in daily planning practice. An important conclusion of the study is, that traditional classification methods for A, B and C type locations, based on egress characteristics, are insufficient for analysing the potentials of locations to reduce the use of the car. Methods based on 'actual accessibility' perform much better on this point. These methods can give a fairly good idea of the potentials for mode shifts from the car to alternative modes like public transport and slow modes.
Abstract