TRUTH IN TRANSPORTATION PLANNING

Transportation engineers and urban planners often report estimates as precise numbers, and unwarranted trust in the accuracy of these precise numbers can lead to bad transportation and land use policies. This paper presents data on parking and trip generation rates to illustrate the misuse of precise numbers to report statistically insignificant estimates. Beyond the problem of statistical insignificance, parking and trip generation rates typically report the parking demand and vehicle trips observed at suburban sites with ample free parking and no public transit. When decision makers use these parking and trip generation rates for city planning, they create a city where everyone drives to their destinations and parks free when they get there.

• Record URL:
  http://www.uctc.net/papers/616.pdf
• 
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/37387952
• Corporate Authors:

  Research and Innovative Technology Administration

  Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Shoup, D C
• Publication Date: 2003

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References;
• Pagination: p. 1-16
• Serial:
  • Journal of Transportation and Statistics
  • Volume: 6
  • Issue Number: 1
  • Publisher: Research and Innovative Technology Administration
  • ISSN: 1094-8848
  • Serial URL: http://www.bts.gov/publications/journal_of_transportation_and_statistics/

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Land use planning; Parking; Planning; Regression analysis; Urban design
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Planning and Forecasting;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00966731
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, ATRI, USDOT
• Created Date: Dec 1 2003 12:00AM