In september 1988, tri-met opened a new park-and-ride lot near i-5 on the southwest side of tri-met's service district. The lot was built to serve residents of the suburban community of tualatin. It provides 204 parking spaces and a covered waiting area. A campaign was undertaken to promote the new lot and the line 96 express bus, which provides nonstop, 20-min service from the park-and-ride lot to downtown portland. Research undertaken to assess the effectiveness of the promotion included counting the number of cars in the park-and-ride lot, the number of passengers who boarded line 96 at the park-and-ride lot, and the total passengers on board line 96. Surveys were conducted of total passengers on board line 96 and persons who received a direct mail promotional packet. Major conclusions of the studywere as follows: (a) use of the lot increased steadily from september 19, 1988 (the day the lot opened), until it reached capacity in mid-january. (B) ridership on line 96 increased by 283% between september 5, 1988, and january 24, 1989. This paper appears in transportation research record no. 1297, Public transit research: management and planning 1991 .
Abstract