Evaluation of car traffic reduction potential in urban area, Paris and Lyon case-studies

The private car currently dominates travel in large metropolitan areas and its use is on the increase, in spite of the fact that public opinion is generally in favour of the development of public transport and political statements which reflect this opinion. Furthermore, the available projections and an analysis of the potential effect of conventional policies indicate that although such policies are able to exert some control, it is limited.Then, the question, that this research directed by INRETS will attempt to answer, is: could a major metropolitan area operate with a radically different transport system that is based principally on the use of modes other than the automobile? By "radically different", we mean a system in which use of the conventional automobile would be reduced in a non-marginal manner, by, say, between a third and a half of all private car vehicle-kilometres.This research does not attempt to justify a move towards a radically different system a lot as already been said on it. Instead, the project will perform different transport simulations and assess on based-rules the effect on the use of modes.Transport scenarios have been designed to incorporate a progressive improvement in public transport supply in the following respects: increase in speeds on the roads, increase in service frequencies during off-peak periods, creation of exclusive public transport lanes, reserving radial roads for public transport, extension of metro and regional express rail and reorganisation of bus routes in response to this. We have also devised and simulated a set of appropriate accompanying strategies that are intended to improve the effectiveness of public transport supply, for example policies to encourage the use of the bicycle or park and ride schemes. The methodology, developed by INRETS has been applied on Paris and Lyon region based on the last household travel survey conducted in each area. For each transport scenario, Paris and Lyon models are used to calculate public transport time for all trips whatever is the actual mode of transport. We then applied the procedure of mode transfer to assess the effect of each of these scenario on mode choice. The procedure is based on automatic rules. Trips, or more precisely round trips, are assigned to one or other of the alternative modes on the basis of elimination rules (no walking for distances over 2 kilometres, no cycling over 8 kilometres, no modal transfer if the purpose of the round trip is for escorting purposes...) and on the basis of constraints (individual travel-time budgets, the length of each trip and round trips, the existence of transport supply...). This system of rules and constraints constitutes the core of the modal transfer procedure.The paper will present both the methodology and results obtain from Paris and Lyon case studies.