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Measuring Transport System Efficiency

Read More: http://www.planetizen.com/node/59995

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There are several possible ways to measure transport system efficiency, which can result in very different conclusions about what solutions are optimal:

• Conventional roadway planning evaluates roadway efficiency based primarily on motor vehicle travel speeds. From this perspective increasing transport system efficiency requires increasing roadway capacity and design speeds. This supports roadway expansions.

• Traffic network planning evaluates roadway efficiency based on automobile access, and so recognizes the reduced travel distances that result from more connected road networks and two-way streets. This supports efforts to increase both traffic speeds and road network connectivity.

• Multi-modal transport planning recognizes that travel demands are diverse because not everybody can drive, and transport costs (including road space, parking, vehicle, travel time, accident risk and environmental costs) and benefits vary. For example, it is inefficient if inadequate transport options forces parents to chauffeur children to school if they would prefer to walk or bicycle, or forces commuters to drive when public transit is overall cheaper. From this perspective transport systems are most efficient if they support and encourage use of resource-efficient modes, so users choose the most efficient option for each trip. This supports complete streets policies, including bike- and bus-lanes, and other efforts to improve and encourage use of resource efficient modes.

• Accessibility-based transport planning recognizes that mobility is seldom an end in itself; the ultimate goal of most transport is access [PDF] to services and activities such as education, employment, shopping and recreation. Several factors can affect accessibility including mobility (travel speed and affordability), the quality of transport options, transport network connectivity, land use accessibility, and mobility substitutes such as telecommunications and delivery services. From this perspective, transport systems are most efficient if they increase road network connectivity, support efficient modes, and encourage more accessible land use. This justifies integrated planning that increases transport network connectivity and supports more accessible and multi-modal community development.

• Economic efficiency refers to the degree that consumer benefits provided by a good exceeds the costs of producing that good (roads can be considered a good consumed by users). From this perspective roads are most efficient if managed or priced to favor higher-value trips and more resource-efficient modes over lower-value trips and less efficient modes. This can justify priority treatment of freight and service vehicles (they tend to be high value), and public transit and high occupant vehicles (they tend to be space efficient), or even better, congestion pricing (road tolls that are higher during peak periods) that test users’ willingness to pay for scarce road space, which allows higher value trips and more efficient modes to outbid lower-value trips and more space-intensive modes.

• Planning efficiency refers to the degree that planning activities are comprehensive and integrated, so that individual, short-term decisions support strategic, long-term goals. This is functional way to develop more accessible and economically efficient roadway systems. From this perspective transport systems are most efficient if planned, designed and managed to support strategic objectives. For example, efficient planning justifies special truck lanes if that supports regional industries, bus lanes and pedestrian improvements that support transit oriented development, streetscaping that supports local commercial district redevelopment, and constraints on urban fringe roadway expansion if that support strategic objectives to encourage more compact development.

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