Evaluation, modeling and policy assessment for park-and-ride services as a component of public transportation

Traffic congestion in urban areas of the United States has increased significantly since the mid-1970s and is expected to continue this trend in the 21st century. Traffic congestion is a byproduct of car dependency and not the problem in and of itself. Public transportation is recognized as an effective way to overcome car dependency and achieve sustainable cities. An integral component of many transit systems in the United States is park-and-ride services. If well planned, such services could result in increased transit ridership. Market area delineation is an important step when planning for such services. Previous approaches for delineating catchment/market areas, however, are either problematic or have unrealistic data requirements. This research develops a geographic information system (GIS)-based approach for delineating market areas. The results show that this approach performs better than existing approaches. Siting park-and-ride facilities is another essential step when planning for the associated services. Unfortunately, existing location models cannot be readily used for locating such facilities, as they do not simultaneously address at least three key issues: distance decay, coverage standards, and partial coverage of demand. This research develops a general location model that simultaneously