Commuter Bus Demand, Incentives for Modal Shift, and Impact on GHG: Part II – Service Design Concepts

This is a continuation of a project to model and evaluate the opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by expanding express commuter bus services in the Greater Boston area. The previous project developed a model to estimate the emissions associated with the current mode split of commuters traveling by car, carpool, walk, bike, or four transit modes by walk or drive access. The model was then used to estimate the effect of a new commuter bus service on operating costs, mode share, and greenhouse gas emissions. The purpose of this project is to analyze the performance of existing commuter bus services that are included in the travel demand model that is maintained by the Central Transportation Planning Staff (CTPS) and new commuter bus service that has since been introduced. This project includes specific attention on one of the corridors identified as a “high-efficiency corridor”: Framingham-Boston. It also provides the opportunity to explore whether there are additional efficiencies that could be attained through service design adjustments. Specifically, this project involves refining the accuracy of the model, analyzing the potential impact of running buses in dedicated lanes or highway shoulders, and consideration of specific details of commuter bus stop location that affect the attractiveness for access by walking or driving.

• Record URL:
  https://www.mass.gov/lists/current-and-completed-research-projects

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $100000
• Contract Numbers:

  92312

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Federal Highway Administration

  Massachusetts Division
  55 Broadway, 10th Floor
  Cambridge, Massachusetts  United States  02142
• Managing Organizations:

  Massachusetts Department of Transportation

  10 Park Plaza
  Boston, MA  United States  02116
• Project Managers:

  Sherman, Gabriel

• Performing Organizations:

  University of Massachusetts, Amherst

  Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
  130 Natural Resources Road
  Amherst, MA  United States  01003
• Principal Investigators:

  Gonzales, Eric

• Start Date: 20181107
• Expected Completion Date: 20190930
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: Research and Development

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Accuracy; Bus lanes; Bus stops; Bus transit; Commuters; Environmental impacts; Greenhouse gases; Location; Modal shift; Road shoulders; Schedules and scheduling; Travel demand
• Geographic Terms: Boston (Massachusetts)
• Subject Areas: Environment; Passenger Transportation; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01691604
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Massachusetts Department of Transportation
• Contract Numbers: 92312
• Files: RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Jan 28 2019 10:13AM