Trip Reduction Tables

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TDM Encyclopedia

Victoria Transport Policy Institute

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About This Encyclopedia

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Updated March 8, 2007


This chapter contains tables indicating the reduction in commute trips that can be expected from various combinations of Commuter Financial Incentives, such as increased parking and road charges, and financial benefits to those who use alternative modes. The Transport Elasticities chapter provides additional information on the travel impacts of various price changes.

 

 

Description

The tables below indicate the reduction in commute trips that can be expected from various combinations of parking charges and financial benefits for alternative modes, based on a commonly used reference document published by Institute of Transportation Engineers and the U.S. Department of Transportation (Comsis, 1993, Table 3.3-8), updated to reflect 30% inflation between 1993 and 2000.

 

These tables take into account variations in worksite settings, including its location (suburban, activity center, central business district), and whether carpooling or transit are favored as alternative modes. For example, Table 3 indicates that a $1.30 per day rideshare and transit subsidy provided to employees at a transit-oriented activity center where parking costs $2.60 per day is likely to result in a 43.6% reduction in commute trips, while in a rideshare-oriented Central Business District, a $2.60 per day rideshare and transit subsidy matched with a $4.00 per day parking fee would only cause a 33.5% trip reduction compared with free parking and no subsidy for alternative modes.

 

Geographic Conditions

These tables use three geographic categories:

 

·       Rideshare Oriented refers to locations where ridesharing (carpools and vanpools) provides more than half of all commute travel by alternative modes.

 

·       Mode Neutral refers to locations where ridesharing and transit represent about the same portion of alternative commute travel.

 

·       Transit Oriented refers to locations where transit provides more than half of all commute travel by alternative modes.

 

 

The table below indicates the typical mode split for these locations without Commuter Financial Incentives (i.e., free parking and no subsidies for transit or ridesharing). Two indicators are used to measure the effectiveness of trip reduction efforts:

 

·       Average Vehicle Occupancy is calculated by dividing the number of persons traveling in private vehicles (but not transit) by the number of private vehicle trips.

 

·       Average Vehicle Ridership is calculated by dividing the number of persons traveling by all person trips (including transit riders) by the number of private vehicle trips.

 

 

Table 1            Typical Mode Split by Location (Comsis, 1993, p. 3-44)

 

Low Density Suburb

Activity Center

Regional CBD/Corridor

Single Occupant Vehicle

85%

66%

41%

Transit

7%

16%

30%

Rideshare

8%

18%

29%

Average Vehicle Occupancy

1.05

1.20

1.35

Average Vehicle Ridership

1.13

1.35

1.90

CBD = Central Business District

 

 

Commute Vehicle Trips Reduced by Financial Incentives

The tables below show the percentage reduction in automobile trips that Commuter Financial Incentives typically cause under various geographic conditions.

 

Table 2            Rideshare/Transit Subsidy = $0

Worksite Setting

Daily Parking Charge (2000 U.S)

 

$0

$1.30

$2.60

$4.00

$5.20

Low density suburb, rideshare oriented

0.0

5.9

13.1

21.0

28.6

Low density suburb, mode neutral

0.0

6.5

15.1

25.3

36.1

Low density suburb, transit oriented

0.0

6.7

15.7

26.7

38.8

Activity center, rideshare oriented

0.0

10.8

21.4

30.7

37.9

Activity center, mode neutral

0.0

12.3

25.1

37.0

46.8

Activity center, transit oriented

0.0

14.3

30.5

46.8

61.4

Regional CBD/Corridor, rideshare oriented

0.0

12.4

21.7

28.2

32.5

Regional CBD/Corridor, mode neutral

0.0

17.5

31.8

42.6

50.0

Regional CBD/Corridor, transit oriented

0.0

22.5

42.6

58.7

70.6

Values in the table indicate the percentage reduction in commute trips compared with no fees or subsidies.

 

 

Table 3            Rideshare/Transit Subsidy = $1.30

Worksite Setting

Daily Parking Charge (2000 U.S)

 

$0

$1.30

$2.60

$4.00

$5.20

Low density suburb, rideshare oriented

5.8

13.0

20.9

28.5

35.0

Low density suburb, mode neutral

5.6

13.9

23.8

34.4

44.5

Low density suburb, transit oriented

5.5

14.1

24.8

36.6

48.3

Activity center, rideshare oriented

10.2

20.8

30.0

37.2

42.4

Activity center, mode neutral

10.5

23.1

34.9

44.8

52.2

Activity center, transit oriented

11.3

27.2

43.6

58.6

70.9

Regional CBD/Corridor, rideshare oriented

11.3

20.6

27.2

31.6

34.4

Regional CBD/Corridor, mode neutral

14.5

29.1

40.0

47.7

52.8

Regional CBD/Corridor, transit oriented

18.1

38.8

55.6

68.2

76.9

Values in the table indicate the percentage reduction in commute trips compared with no fees or subsidies.

 

 

Table 4            Rideshare/Transit Subsidy = $2.60

Worksite Setting

Daily Parking Charge (2000 U.S)

 

$0

$1.30

$2.60

$4.00

$5.20

Low density suburb, rideshare oriented

13.0

20.8

28.4

34.9

40.0

Low density suburb, mode neutral

12.7

22.4

32.8

42.9

51.5

Low density suburb, transit oriented

12.6

22.9

34.5

46.1

56.5

Activity center, rideshare oriented

20.1

29.3

36.6

41.8

45.5

Activity center, mode neutral

21.2

33.0

42.9

50.4

55.8

Activity center, transit oriented

24.0

40.5

55.8

68.6

78.3

Regional CBD/Corridor, rideshare oriented

19.6

26.2

30.6

33.5

35.3

Regional CBD/Corridor, mode neutral

26.3

37.5

45.4

50.7

54.1

Regional CBD/Corridor, transit oriented

34.8

52.3

65.6

74.9

81.1

Values in the table indicate the percentage reduction in commute trips compared with no fees or subsidies.

 

 

Table 5            Rideshare/Transit Subsidy = $4.00

Worksite Setting

Daily Parking Charge (2000 U.S)

 

$0

$1.30

$2.60

$4.00

$5.20

Low density suburb, rideshare oriented

20.7

28.3

34.8

39.9

43.5

Low density suburb, mode neutral

21.0

31.3

41.3

49.9

56.6

Low density suburb, transit oriented

21.1

32.5

44.0

44.0

62.8