[sustran] TDM for company car

obwon ob110ob at IDT.NET
Wed Jun 25 10:22:01 JST 1997


JOHN WHITELEGG wrote:
> 
> Dear Taiichi Inoue,
> 
> re TDM projects
> 
> I have carried out a thorough TDM strategy for a large hospital in
> Plymouth (UK).

[...] 
> John Whitelegg
> 
> j.whitelegg at lancaster.ac.uk

  You have an interesting advantage over most transportation planners,
within the domain you describe.  That being that you know why your
people travel.  That allows you to predict most trips.

  But in the world at large it isn't quite so easy.  Of course we know
that people travel to get from one place to another.  But the thing that
we really need to know is -- why one place and not another? --  If we
simplified planning by just picking one travel need out of the pack,
we'd be impressed by the quantity and qualities of business travel,
since most people make trips to and from their jobs with predictable
frequency.

  Unfortunately, if workplaces decentralize, then such a system loses
it's 'anchor'.  Just as frieght systems might, as 'just in time' mfg
becomes more accessible via computer application, mass point to point
shipping can be expected to suffer.  So what we need is systems that
take more of the reasons for travel into account and configure them to
serve several 'anchor groups'.  

  Just as computerized systems are allowing mfgs to 'sample' their
intended consumer targets, so they can save themselves the time, effort
and resources that would be wasted if they produce products that nobody
wants.  So to transportation should be looking to use computerized
systems to 'sample' their customer base.  

 Why are we forgetting the huge monster fuel burners in the skies?  That
too is transportation.  Having said that... let's generally enumerate an
overall description of departures/destinations in a non political way.
 
 1. International (as between distant land masses)
 2. Regional (between distant population centers)
 3. InterCity (between nearby population centers)
 4. IntraCity (between distant neighborhoods and communities
               within a city and neighboring cities)
 5. Local (within neighborhoods and communities)

  Obviously 1 thru 4 provide the greatest opportunity for the rigid
fixed structures of mass transportation as we know it.  While no. 5
needs a variety of transportation services if they are to compete with
the benefits offered by individual auto use.  But if the services at the
local level do not become competitive with auto use, then the first 4
structures will suffer as people 'transport' their cars over these
distances.  
 
  That is in fact what people are doing on long drives.  They are
'transporting' their cars.  The hassles associated with the long drives
are unwanted but tolerated in exchange for the benefits to be gained by
haveing the car accessible for local travel once at the destination
(levels 4 and 5 on the list).  So it's not as though people aren't
willing to put up with hassels to get where they want to go.  They quite
actually are thinking about the future progressions of their trips.

  Without being able to access a means of traveling around at their
destinations, which can compete closely in costs and effectiveness with
a product they already own and have available for use.  Well, their
choice is clear. Not to mention that they can pull off the road and take
a nap in their cars.  Try doing that on a bus!  But you can do that on a
train, or even a comfortable chair in a station waiting room, while
you're waiting for the train.

  Many urban public places are bereft of places to stop and sit, water
fountains and public toilet facilites, in a pinch the car often serves
as a shielding device employable to some effects <g>.  But you can carry
water and food in the car, rather than buy it in each area you visit.  I
say this to show that the car also offers some pecautionary facilities
largely absent to the local travelers using mass transit (at least here
in NYC!  What's your perceptions elsewhere?)  

  The car offers a means of keeping the children together and a sort of
private room to do things in.  As well as a means of simply getting from
place to place by means of 'point to point travel' (and by point to
point I also include from one time to another time to be a point to
point ie. no wait time to begin a trip).  So, having vehicles available
for private useage at the end of a mass transit line, are a powerful
inducement/ameloration, of forseeable problems that complexify travel
perceptions beyond the benefits/sense that takeing mass transit would
make.

  Obwon



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