An impact analysis of a subway extension in montreal is presented. opened in 1976, the extension began operating just before the summer olympics and included two stations allowing easy access to the olympic stadium. The analyses are based on large-scale regional origin-destination surveys carried out by the montreal urban community transit corporation (the local transit operator) every 4 years since 1970. Because of the amount and nature of data as well as the programming package madituc (a model of the disaggregate analysis of trips on a transit network), it was possible to perform specific studies, identifying the main impacts of the extension. On a short-term basis, no urbanistic structuring effect was observed following the subwayextension: general trends of population decrease and aging continued in the surrounding sectors. However, the extension had a positive influence on transit ridership. Transit users experienced significant reductions in travel time and a decrease in the number of transfers required. Nevertheless, the effect on modal split was limited in space and time, thus being very local. This attraction phenomenon appears to be significant only within a distance of 1.6 km from the subway line. After an initial increase, the market share for public transit began to decrease, sometimes reaching levels lower than those in the pre-extension period. This paper appeared in transportation research record no. 1152, rail rapid transit and planning tools. For covering abstract see irrd no 818412.
Abstract