Accessibility plays an important role in Dutch transport policy. However, strict definitions and analyses are pretty scarce. Therefore, 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 a Project Bureau for Integrated Transport Studies (PB IVVS) contract. Practical alternative methods for measuring the accessibility of locations for housing, working and facilities are developed. By means of case studies these methods are tested for their applicability in daily planning practice. The paper presents the main results of the study, as far as locations for employment are concerned. The results of the case study in the region of The Hague are discussed. For this region, alternative classifications of A, B and C type locations are compared. An important conclusion in the paper 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 insight into the potential for mode shifts from the car to alternative modes like public transport and slow modes.
Abstract