Bicycle-Rail Trip Analysis and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Focused Study

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) serves as transportation planner, coordinator, designer, builder and operator for rail and bus. More than 9.6 million people (nearly one-third of California's residents) live within its 1,433-square-mile service area. Metro has 79.1 rail miles in service, 15,967 bus stops, and 183 bus routes in service. The purpose of this study is to determine the extent of the benefits of providing an integrated transportation system where bicyclists are a complementary mode-choice to riding the system. This focused study establishes baseline data for the typical number of bicycle-rail trips that are made on Metro transit facilities, estimates the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions offset by bicycle-rail trips, and provides data that can be used to complement the development of climate change policies and transit industry protocols. Count data, intercept surveys, and rail ridership data, are used to extrapolate vehicle miles traveled and GHG emissions reductions to annual numbers. Additionally, the data gathered provides previously unknown information on the “bikeshed” of the rail stations. It indicates that bicyclists are a subset of riders. Therefore, accommodating bicyclists at rail stations and on trains provides mobility benefits.

• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Doyle, Gwynneth L
  • Liban, Emmanuel C B
  • Goldsmith, Lynne
  • Ledbetter, Lauren
  • Marcelo, Madonna
  • Cooper, Keith B
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 91st Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2012-1-22 to 2012-1-26
• Date: 2012

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: 17p
• Monograph Title: TRB 91st Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers DVD

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bicycle travel; Greenhouse gases; Multimodal transportation; Pollutants; Rail transit stations; Ridership
• Geographic Terms: Los Angeles Metropolitan Area
• Subject Areas: Environment; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Public Transportation; I15: Environment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01365390
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 12-4031
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Mar 20 2012 12:16PM