The Public Transportation and Land Use Multiplier: Greenhouse Gas Reduction Potential and Associated Costs in the Los Angeles Southern California Metropolitan Region

Transit in high density urban regions can help reduce the vehicle miles traveled (VMT) by residents and visitors. Less private vehicle dependency and use reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and congestion. Planners and politicians can benefit significantly from improved information about transit’s effects on land use and vehicle use. There are a number of techniques to estimate the influence that transit has on non-transit travel patterns in a given region. One method involves using the American Public Transportation Association’s (APTA) approach to calculating land use multipliers. The APTA methodology can also be used to measure the GHG, VMT, and fuel use impacts of potential mode shift, congestion relief, and land use changes associated with transit service. Additionally, the APTA methodology can be used with the Department of Transportation’s National Transit Database (NTD) to develop quick and cost-effective estimates of transit leverage for all transit agencies listed in the NTD. This advancement can be used by policy decision makers to estimate fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions reductions achievable through changes in transit supply policies. The paper will compare land use multipliers in different cities in the Los Angeles Southern California metropolitan region. The comparison will examine the influence of population, density, job clusters, and other factors on regional land use multipliers. This paper will discuss the scenarios, the analysis methodology used, and the ways in which these results differ from other recent literature on the topic.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADC70 Transportation Energy.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Lem, Lewison Lee
  • Chami, Rami
  • Moylan, Emily
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 92nd Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2013-1-13 to 2013-1-17
• Date: 2013

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 18p
• Monograph Title: TRB 92nd Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Cost effectiveness; Fuel consumption; Greenhouse gases; Impacts; Land use; Metrics (Quantitative assessment); Modal shift; Public transit; Vehicle miles of travel
• Identifier Terms: American Public Transportation Association; National Transit Database
• Geographic Terms: Los Angeles Metropolitan Area
• Subject Areas: Energy; Environment; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; I15: Environment; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01472620
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 13-2088
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 19 2013 8:48AM