Commuter Bus Demand, Incentives for Modal Shift, and Impact on GHG Emissions

In response to Governor Charles Baker’s Executive Order No. 569, Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) Rail and Transit Division is interested in identifying ways to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the transportation sector by incentivizing mode shift through the provision of improved transit service. This project focuses on determining whether there is an opportunity to expand commuter bus service in the Greater Boston area and the necessary incentives commuters need to make a modal shift. This project has utilized existing models to estimate the status quo of mode split and GHG emissions and has developed user cost and agency cost models that are used to model operations of a new commuter bus service for each origin-destination (OD) pair at the spatial resolution of towns. Then, an efficiency metric defined as the ratio of change in cost for providing the additional service over the reduction of GHG emissions (after the introduction of the new commuter bus service) is applied, and the combinations of fare and commuter bus frequency that maximize this efficiency metric for each OD pair are determined. The final outcomes of this project are rankings of OD pairs that present the maximum efficiency.

• Record URL:
  • http://www.umasstransportationcenter.org/Document.asp?DocID=494
• 
• Record URL:
  • https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/36362
• Corporate Authors:

  University of Massachusetts, Amherst

  Amherst, MA  United States  01003

  Massachusetts Department of Transportation

  Office of Transportation Planning
  Boston, MA  United States 

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Christofa, Eleni
  • Gonzales, Eric J
  • Lyman, Christopher
  • Campbell, Nicholas
  • Fournier, Nicholas
• Publication Date: 2018-3

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Appendices; Figures; Maps; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 114p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Commuter service; Commuters; Costs; Modal shift; Origin and destination; Pollutants; Transit buses; Travel demand
• Geographic Terms: Boston (Massachusetts)
• Subject Areas: Environment; Passenger Transportation; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01675113
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: NTL, TRIS, ATRI, USDOT, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Jul 18 2018 9:51AM