Efficient Transportation for Vermont. Optimal Statewide Transit Networks

摘要

Public transit systems are receiving increased attention as viable solutions to problems with transportation system robustness, energy-efficiency and equity. The over-reliance on a single mode, the automobile, is a threat to system robustness. Increasingly, policy-makers and planners are espousing transportation systems with more options where robustness and equity gains come from the redundancy of alternative modes. For public transit, equity considerations range from ensuring that the network is fully connected (avoiding the you cant get there from here problem), to providing access to critical destinations (e.g., grocery stores or health care facilities) for people without cars (Alam, 2009). Energy-efficiency gains in transit systems result when there are higher vehicle-occupancy rates which lower energy use per passenger-mile (Davis et al. 2009). This is one of two reports stemming from a project that sought to improve our understanding of the ways in which the Vermont statewide transportation system efficiency can be improved. In this report, we envision a series of optimal idealized transit-networks for the state of Vermont, based on the competing motivations of efficiency and equity, and compare those idealized networks to the existing one. The main objective is to measure the potential levels of efficiency and equity, as well as the potential gains that could result from redesigning the statewide fixed-route bus service. Finally, the location of existing park and ride facilities are considered relative to the existing and idealized transit networks.