| 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 deals with these issues. The developed model is general in that it can be applied not only for siting desirable facilities such as park-and-ride lots, but also for undesirable ones. The developed model is extended in order to deal with the issues of siting park-and-ride facilities in the context of an existing system and accessibility of selected facility sites to major roadways.; Although selecting appropriate facility locations is critical for achieving more viable park-and-ride services, this by itself may not result in a significant increase in ridership in a given urban area if key supporting elements are not adopted. This research reviews such elements and assesses the potential of Columbus, Ohio (the case study in this research) to achieve successful park-and-ride services. While there are plans to expand park-and-ride services and add elements to the transit system in Columbus, it is not expected that this will result in a significant increase in transit ridership, unless key elements/policies are adopted. |
