Support transportation demand management
Action
While most transportation departments have traditionally focused on providing transportation supply, in recent years departments that are increasingly overburdened physically and financially have turned to "demand management" as a means of controlling cost and meeting needs. "Demand management" generally refers to strategies or techniques that reduce the number of vehicles that use highways by providing travelers with other mobility options. Examples of these strategies include carpooling or vanpooling, transit, telecommuting and flexible work schedules, park-and-ride, and integrated land use and transportation project design that allows more pedestrian or bicycle travel.
As transportation budgets tighten, the pressure to reform transportation operations often creates an opportunity to consider market-based policies that can help manage transportation demand. For example, pricing parking to better reflect its opportunity cost can quickly and cheaply reduce congestion and improve air quality.
Process
Several state departments of transportation directly support Transportation Demand Management. It is probably faster and easier for a state DOT to start supporting Commute TDM than just about anything else in this chapter. Most regional TDM organizations need financial and strategic support in the current economic environment, and TDM is almost certainly the single most cost-effective action a DOT can take to reduce VMT.
Examples
- Commuter Connections, Washington, D.C. metropolitan area
Commuter Connections, in the greater Washington, D.C. area, is a regional network of transportation organizations that provides the public with information on commuting options and helps employers establish commuting benefits and assistance programs for their employees. The program also provides carpool/vanpool matching, transit route and schedule information, a regional Guaranteed Ride Home program, bicycle to work information, park-and-ride lot and HOV lane information, telecommute/telework program assistance, InfoExpress commuter information kiosks, Internet-based commuter information services, and employer services. All services are provided free to the public and employers.
Commuter Connections is a program of the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board at the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and is funded by the District, Maryland, and Virginia Departments of Transportation as well as the U.S. Department of Transportation. Many of the local Commuter Connections members receive grant funding directly from their respective state government.
— Commuter Connections
