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> Issues > Urban Growth and
Development > Smart Bylaws Guide > Part
4 > Transportation Demand Management
Smart Bylaws Guide – Transportation Demand Management
Transportation demand management (TDM), or demand-side management
or mobility management for roads, is an approach to transportation
that seeks to use existing road capacity more efficiently, rather
than investing in costly upgrades to existing infrastructure.
The purpose is to make better use of existing road space by
encouraging users to change their travel patterns and how they
travel. Most TDM strategies are aimed at changing peak
congestion travel behaviour of morning and afternoon commuters.
For example, instead of providing free parking for employees, one
TDM strategy is for municipalities and employers to supply a monthly
transportation voucher that can be used for parking, a bus pass, or
other transportation costs. Finally, TDM principles also
encourage the appropriate use of roads through traffic
calming, recognizing that residential streets should be used for
residential traffic and not as a faster shortcut for commuter
traffic.
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What is Transportation
Demand Management?
“TDM prioritizes travel
based on the value and costs of each trip, giving higher value
trips and lower cost modes priority over lower value, higher
cost travel, when doing so increases overall system
efficiency. It emphasizes the movement of people and goods,
rather than motor vehicles, and so gives priority to public
transit, ridesharing and nonmotorized travel, particularly
under congested urban conditions.
There are many
different TDM strategies with a variety of transportation
impacts. Some improve the transportation options available to
consumers. Some cause changes in trip scheduling, route,
destination or mode. Others reduce the need for physical
travel through more efficient land use, or transportation
substitutes. TDM is an increasingly common response to
transport problems. Although most individual TDM strategies
only affect a small portion of total travel, the cumulative
impacts of a comprehensive TDM program can be significant.
***
When all impacts are
considered, TDM is often the most cost effective solution to
transportation problems (TDM
Evaluation). TDM can provide multiple benefits, including
reduced congestion, road and parking facility cost savings,
crash cost savings, consumer cost savings, pollution
reduction, and more efficient land use. Although not every TDM
strategy supports every objective, most support several. A
comprehensive TDM
Program that includes a variety of complementary TDM
strategies usually helps achieve most transportation
improvement objectives.
Transportation Demand
Management can provide significant savings to consumers and
society by reducing and deferring roadway capacity expansion
costs. It is often the Least
Cost solution. Adding capacity to accommodate additional
peak-period vehicle trips typically costs $5 to $20 per day
just for road and parking facilities (Transportation
Costs). In addition, consumers must spend thousands of
dollars annually on Vehicle
Costs, and society bears external costs, including crash
risk, pollution emissions and reduced mobility for
non-drivers.”
Victoria Transport Policy
Institute, Transportation
Demand Management Encyclopedia (Section Why Manage
Transportation Demand?)
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Most importantly, TDM is integrally linked to land use.
Residential and commercial development patterns either encourage
walking, biking and transit use, or mandate auto-dependency because
different land uses are located too far from one another and in densities
that are too low to support transit. Many of the strategies
outlined in this Smart Bylaws Guide all point towards creating
compact complete communities where single occupancy vehicle use
can be conveniently minimized and the use of road space efficiently
maximized.
TDM techniques include increasing transportation choices,
implementing better land use patterns that encourage non-automobile
forms of transportation, and trip reduction or carpooling programs.
Regional, municipal, employer-specific or even strata-specific TDM strategies usually
employ a variety of complementary techniques to address travel
needs. Common strategies include:
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Improving
the walking & cycling infrastructure, including integrating
bike-transit links;
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Creating
high occupancy vehicle lanes;
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Creating zones that are car-free at certain times of day;
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Charging a fee for driving into the downtown core (congestion
pricing);
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Carsharing/carpooling
and vansharing;
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Allowing
employees to work from home part of the time (tele-commuting) or
work different hours (flextime);
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Decreasing
parking supply and support the use of transit and other means of
mobility;
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Providing dedicated car-share parking spaces;
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Allowing vehicles from co-operative car-share programs to park
in any permit zone in the city (e.g. City
of Vancouver)
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Providing reduced fee access to a community transit pass;
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Increasing
the frequency and efficiency of transit, and encouraging the use
of that transit;
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Managing
transportation to schools, such as establishing a “walking
schoolbus” program and changing parking availability; and
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Calming
traffic in residential and busy commercial areas.
Municipal Transportation Demand Management Initiatives
Durham, North Carolina’s
Commute
Trip Reduction Program, Bylaw
and Reduction
Alternatives to Vehicle Emissions Program
Kamloops’
TravelSmart Program
Kelowna’s
Transportation Demand Management
Whistler’s
Comprehensive Transportation Strategy based on TDM Principles
Washington State Department
of Transport TDM Links
City
of North Vancouver's partnership with Co-operative Auto Network
(CAN) (acquiring a shared Prius for municipal workers to attend
off-site meetings)
Other Transportation Demand Management Initiatives
Selkirk
Waterfront Development
UPASS (mandatory, universal bus pass for students) – University
of British Columbia, University
of Victoria
Neighbourhood or community transit pass - Boulder,
Colorado Neighbourhood Eco (NECO) Pass, Hamilton
pilot, Verdant
Green building at Simon Fraser University (C-Pass)
Employer-based transit pass - Boulder
Eco Pass
Regional transportation authority-provided bike parking - Boulder
Bicycle Lockers for rent
Vancouver Island
Technology Park
London
congestion pricing (which raises revenue for transit system
improvements)
Wikipedia List
of car-free places
For More Information
Contain
Urban Areas
Channel
Development Into Existing Neighbouhoods
Create
Compact Complete Communities
Mix
Housing Jobs & Green Infrastructure
Transit-Supportive
Development
Increase
Transportation Choices Through Land Use Decisions
Transportation Demand
Management Encyclopedia (Victoria Transport Policy Institute)
– comprehensive resource for TDM strategies, including an
evaluation of over 50 TDM strategies.
National TDM and
Telework Clearinghouse (Center for Urban Transportation,
University of South Florida)
Transport
Canada - Car Sharing in Canada
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