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- Report n°6: Urban Public Transport
Report n°6: Urban Public Transport
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Table of contents
- Overview of external effects of UPT/ERW systems
- Modal share: an effect to limit the increase of trips by private cars
- Overview of external effects of UPT/ERW systems
Modal share: an effect to limit the increase of trips by private cars
The respective shares of private cars and public transport used by city dwellers are not known with any degree of precision except when local authorities and the Ministry of Transport carry out household surveys. The enquiries before and after entry into service of UPT/ERW in Strasbourg and Grenoble give some indication of the evolution of modal share. However, it would be necessary to compare developments in those towns with a reference sample. In the time intervals before and after entry into service of two lines in Grenoble (1983-1987 and 1987-1992) the share of private car use rose from 49 to 58% of journeys (including on foot) within the reference sample. Ten years later, that is at the time of entry into service of the Strasbourg tram, the figures for the same sample rose from 58% to 59%. How did the private car market share develop during those two periods of time in Grenoble and Strasbourg? In Grenoble, the shift was from 48% to 54%, which means that it developed more slowly by a third than in reference towns. The share of public transport rose from 11% to 14% of journeys. In Strasbourg, the market share of cars rose from 49% to 54%, which means that the big difference at the outset was not totally absorbed by the growth in the share of cars. Grenoble is therefore still 4 points below the sample and Strasbourg 5 points above.
Table 3. Evolution of market shares of modes of transport in Grenoble and Strasbourg
|
Grenoble |
Reference sample (1983-87) |
Strasbourg |
Reference sample (1987-92) |
| % cars before UPT/ERW | 48.4% | 49,00% | 49.1% | 58,00% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| % cars after UPT/ERW | 53.9% | 58,00% | 53.7% | 59,00% |
| Difference in points | +5.5 points | +9 points | +4.6 points | +1 point |
| % public transport before UPT/ERW | 11.2% | 10.7% | 7.4% | 10.1% |
| % public transport after UPT/ERW | 13.7% | 10.1% | 8.4% | 8.2% |
| Difference in points | +2.5 points | -0.6 point | +1 point | -1.9 point |
A concrete impact on cars running was measured by extrapolation on the basis of vehicles in Park and Ride sites in Nantes. The total capacity of the Park and Ride sites is 1,000 vehicles, which represents a flow of users of 9,000 persons/day and about 5,000 cars. These 5,000 cars that did not enter the city centre are to be compared to the 150,000 cars that do penetrate daily, i.e. 3%. Naturally, such retention at the outer limits of the central perimeter only makes sense if new vehicles are prevented from entering in their stead which would touch on general transport policy quite outside the scope of public transport management.