The availability in the Shirley Highway corridor in Northern Virginia of an uncongested high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane restricted to vehicles carrying three or more persons has led to the development of significant dynamic ridesharing activity. Each day, drivers of vehicles carrying too few occupants to qualify for HOV lane use (known as “bodysnatchers”) stop at informally established but well-known locations to seek additional passengers (known as “slugs”). As part of a study whose purpose was to quantify the likely effects of changing the HOV lane eligibility rule from three or more persons per vehicle to two or more persons per vehicle, data were collected on the patterns of dynamic carpool formation. These data were used in the examination of the hypothesis that an important factor contributing to the long-term success of dynamic ridesharing is that a single passenger need never ride with a lone driver: the 3+ occupant HOV rule ensures that there will always be two passengers in addition to the driver. Analysis of carpool formation patterns by number and gender revealed that slugs come in pairs. Changing the HOV occupancy rule would result in fewer vehicles seeking riders, but most slugs would still find acceptable rides. The primary effect on ridesharing would result from increased congestion in the HOV lanes.
The Paul S. Sarbanes Transit in Parks Technical Assistance Center, sponsored by the Federal Transit Administration, recently completed the report Good Practices to Encourage Bicycling and Pedestrians on Federal Lands. The report was developed for federal land managers interested in creating or expanding bicycle and pedestrian options in their units and looking for more information about successful models and practices. Bicycle and pedestrian transportation has many benefits of interest to federal land managers, including resource protection, reducing green house gas emissions, achieving financial sustainability, and improving visitor enjoyment and health. After reviewing bicycle and pedestrian planning documents from federal land units and selected cities and counties, the technical assistance team identified 11 components of an effective bicycle and pedestrian plan: needs assessment; partnerships; goals, objectives, and performance measures; bicycle and pedestrian network plan; design guidelines; maintenance policy and procedures; pedestrian and bicycle support facilities; cost and funding analysis; encouragement, education, and enforcement programs; evaluation and monitoring; and updates. This paper describes each component and presents illustrative examples. The full report contains additional examples and a more in-depth discussion of each component of the plan.
Shortly after the passage of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991, the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Aviation Administration recognized that there was very little guidance available for airport operators and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) to use for planning intermodal access to airports in the United States. As a result, the Intermodal Ground Access to Airports: A Planning Guide was developed. This Guide is designed to provide guidance to states, MPOs, and airport operators on the types of analyses that should be performed when airport access is being planned. It describes the airport access planning process and procedures for performing analyses. During the development of the Guide, relationships were developed between the level of originating passengers at American airports and the characteristics of airport access and landside facilities. The types of characteristics that were related to originating passengers included public parking, vehicle trips, terminal curbside design, and mode of access. Some of the relationships that were developed, how they were derived, and their importance to airport access planning are now presented. In addition, some additional relationships that should be developed are suggested.
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