Evaluating urban transportation quality: measuring transportation activity

Abstract

This paper describes how, when people think about transportation improvements, they often envision new modes of travel: canals, steamships, railroads, automobiles and air travel. What comes next? Rockets? Lighter-than-air ships? Teleporters? Perhaps these may become more common in the future. But they will not necessarily solve existing transportation problems such as urban traffic congestion, parking costs or traffic crashes. The next major breakthrough to improve transport system quality may simply consist of management strategies that result in more efficient use of existing transport resources. When all impacts are considered, such strategies are often the best solution to transportation problems. The paper first studies the definition and connotation of transportation efficiency and quality. From the viewpoint of different groups participating in urban transportation systems, different system functions and targets required by each group are analyzed. Then the corresponding system targets and evaluation rules required by the administrator are studied. Finally, the authors discuss different methods used to measure urban transportation, the different perspectives they represent, and how the selection of one or another method tends to affect transportation and land use planning decisions.