See the following documents, which discuss the relative benefits of
rail transit. They reference both North American and European
evidence. Please let me know if you find related information to add.
"Evaluating New Start Transit Program Performance: Comparing Rail And
Bus" (http://www.vtpi.org/bus_rail.pdf ).
"Smart Congestion Reductions II: Reevaluating The Role Of Public
Transit For Improving Urban Transportation"
(http://www.vtpi.org/cong_reliefII.pdf ).
"Rail Transit In America: Comprehensive Evaluation of Benefits"
(http://www.vtpi.org/railben.pdf ).
Best wishes,
-Todd Litman
At 09:43 AM 11/14/2006, Steve Melia wrote:
>Can anyone point me to research on the impact of urban tram/light rail
>systems (versus bus only networks) on modal share in a UK or European
>context?
>
>Over this summer, I cycled to Freiburg and back, to examine the policies
>which have enabled them to reduce car use across the city, as well as a
>specific focus on the new 'carfree neighbourhood' of Vauban. I have
>written a paper on my observations, to accompany various presentations I'm
>doing on this (on www.stevemelia.co.uk/vauban.htm).
>
>In preparing the presentation, I used some statistics prepared by the city
>council, comparing Freiburg with 7 other German and Swiss cities. 2 of
>the 7 (Aachen and Munster) have a significantly lower modal share for
>public transport than all the others. On investigation, these turned out
>to be the only 2 with no tram system. This made me wonder how typical
>this was and whether anyone has systematically researched cause and
>effect. A web search produced one North American paper, but no European
>ones.
>
>This subject is particularly relevant to the UK at the moment, given the
>DfT's touching faith in the potential for buses to transform travel
>behaviour.
Sincerely,
Todd Alexander Litman
Victoria Transport Policy Institute (www.vtpi.org)
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Phone & Fax 250-360-1560
1250 Rudlin Street, Victoria, BC, V8V 3R7, CANADA
"Efficiency - Equity - Clarity"
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