published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.T.R.P.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2001.

Rapid growth in suburb-to-suburb commuting has created a problem for transit providers: the dispersed commuting patterns are very difficult to serve with transit, and are characterized by low transit use. This thesis aims to determine which markets have the best potential for transit, and what factors could increase this potential. Surrey, B.C. is typical of the rapidly growing areas where suburb-to-suburb commuting is most prevalent. Commuting between Surrey and other suburban areas has increased sharply in recent years. A detailed examination of commuting patterns within Surrey revealed the highly dispersed nature of the work trip flows; the only flows which were concentrated to any degree were those between nodes with relatively high population and employment densities. A correlation was found between density, especially employment density, and transit use. Inter-nodal trips, which already have the greatest transit use among suburb-to-suburb trips, will be a key market for transit in the suburbs. Inter-nodal express service would help to address complaints that suburb-to-suburb transit service is too slow and indirect. Trips to and from the nodes will also be an important market. Intra-nodal trips, which presently have low transit use, form another key market which could possibly be served by a paratransit shuttle service. In Surrey, efforts have begun to address the issue of suburb-to-suburb transit in a comprehensive manner, but there has been little substantive progress to date. The case study results were used to develop a conceptual framework for suburb-to-suburb transit planning which could then be applied to other suburban areas facing similar problems. The framework calls for a wide array of transit and paratransit services, each filling a different market niche, which can be combined to create an integrated but flexible system. This system must be reinforced with land use strategies to promote greater densities, and more pedestrian and transit friendly design. Transportation demand management must also be used to encourage transit use by increasing the costs of driving an automobile. This three-pronged, comprehensive approach should allow transit to compete successfully in some suburban markets.

One of the most pressing problems faced by large urban areas is traffic congestion. Traffic congestion, or the urban transportation problem is not a new phenomenon, having existed since the process of urbanization began. Low density urbanization or suburbanization, facilitated by the availability of large numbers of automobiles has contributed to the present traffic problem. The causes of the problem have long been recognized by planners and decision makers, and viable solutions have been proposed. However, in spite of solutions being known, the problem still exists and has become worse. The purpose of this study is to observe how planners have dealt with the land use and transportation factors which contribute to the ever worsening traffic problems in a suburban area. It is hypothesized that the fragmented nature of the planning and decision making processes have resulted in a lack of co-ordination and co-operation in planning to resolve the urban transportation problem. The objectives of this thesis are to gain an understanding of: 1) why the urban transportation problem exists; 2) the planning process involved in finding solutions to this problem; and 3) the effect of the fragmentation of authority over various factors of land use and transportation. The methodology includes the following steps. The first is a literature review of the current thought on the subject of traffic congestion, and the factors causing it. The second is a literature review of the planning process and the theoretical foundations of current thought on land use and transportation studies. This will be followed by a case study using a descriptive historical approach. The case study reviews developments as well as past land use and transportation studies for the study area. The fourth step involves an interpretation of the information provided in the case study in light of the literature review. The area chosen for the case study is the Greater Vancouver Regional District's North East Sector. This Sector has experienced accelerated development and an increasing 111 population dependant upon the automobile for mobility. Low density land use, has created automobile dependent development, which make an automobile a necessity. A large percentage of the workforce in the area has to commute to other areas. Numerous studies have been commissioned to find solutions to the North East Sector's transportation problems. Despite the realization of the causes of traffic congestion, the solutions presented in the studies have not been comprehensively implemented to achieve workable results. There were two major findings of this study. The first is that planners and decision makers are aware of the relationship between land use and transportation planning. The second is the fragmentation of authority for different aspects of land use and transportation has frustrated attempts to resolve traffic congestion, through a fragmenting of the planning and decision making process.

Transit trips include four parts: the trip from the front door to the transit stop; the wait at the transit stop for the transit vehicle; the transit ride; and the trip from the transit drop off point to the final destination. This thesis explores methods of improving the pedestrian trips to and from the transit stop and the waiting period at the transit stop. People are not satisfied with their transit trips. People want better quality waiting areas, increased safety, comfortable surroundings, transit information, and convenience during the transit trip. This thesis explores the positive relationship between the quality of public streets and transit facilities, and ridership satisfaction. The thesis proposes that the transit trip can be improved by improving transit waiting areas, and the paths people take arriving at and departing from transit stops. BC Transit's Vancouver Regional Transit System's transit facilities are the focus of the study. Transit facilities include: bus stops, bus loops, bus exchanges, SkyTrain stations, and SeaBus terminals. The study reviews people's attitudes towards transit facilities and discusses the items that people consider important to a transit trip. This review includes a survey conducted by the author and a review of surveys conducted for BC Transit. A review of the literature provides further evidence on the basic requirements for transit facilities and a comparison is made with the local situation. The thesis explores the potential for land use planning, urban design and on-site design to improve the safety, comfort, and convenience of transit facilities. The role of BC Transit, in providing adequate transit facilities, is discussed along with the roles and responsibilities of other associated organizations including: the Province, the Greater Vancouver Regional District, municipal governments located within the Vancouver Region, private enterprise, and business improvement districts. The study concludes BC Transit should give more thought to the transit customer in the design and location of transit facilities. And that municipal governments must take action to improve the quality of streets and transit facilities in their own communities.

This thesis examines the opportunities and constraints facing the implementation of Transit Oriented Development (TOD). TOD consists of concentrated, mixed use development within walking distance of a commercial core and a transit stop that provide the focal point for the community and connect the resident to the region. Despite the fact that many planners accept TOD as a useful form of development, TOD has experienced barriers to its implementation. Neither the barriers to implementation, nor the opportunities for overcoming them have been sufficiently researched. This case study of land use planning at the four east Vancouver station areas of Joyce, 29th Avenue, Nanaimo and Broadway of the 'Expo' Advanced Light Rapid Transit (ALRT) line, known locally as 'SkyTrain', addresses this deficiency. Planning literature, planning documents, interviews with seven Vancouver planners, zoning and land use maps, and a land use survey provided the data from which conclusions were drawn. The research suggests that the major barriers to TOD implementation along the Vancouver 'Expo' line were poor transit routing, difficulties in assembling large parcels of land, lack of coordination between public entities, separated regional land use and transportation planning, inadequate political commitment to design and mitigation measures, the setting of goals for the station areas that are not TOD goals and the intrusive nature ALRT due to its elevated guideway. Many of these barriers correspond with those identified by the TOD literature as existing in other cities, but significant barriers that were identified in the case study but not by the literature include the intrusive nature of the ALRT technology due to its elevated guideway, the decision making process that had the province make decisions (e.g. the type of rapid transit technology to be used) without local input, and the absence of sustained implementation. Opportunities for overcoming barriers to TOD include creating more participatory decision making processes that ensure decisions that affect local communities are made at the municipal and regional, rather than provincial, level, the creation of a directly elected agency responsible for both land use and transportation planning, increased coordination between public agencies, and the creation of TOD guidelines.

The subject of this thesis is a technology, the motor vehicle, that greatly affected our society. Between 1900 and 1930, motorization progressed rapidly in the Montreal area as the motor vehicle became a dominant mode of urban transportation. But to reach such a status, the new technology needed more than an increasing number of people adopting it. Because the street was already occupied by different users, automobile drivers had to impose the motor car on it. Above all, it was with tramway promoters that they had to "negociate". / This negotiation related to both the space available in the street and the movement of vehicles. Concerning space, the omnipresence of tramways and their installations along with the parking of motor vehicles, particularly in the downtown area of Montreal, led to suggestions of wide boulevards and subway systems as possible solutions. The fact that tramways had priority in traffic and could not be passed by motor vehicles constituted major obstacles for motorists anxious to benefit from the motor car. By the end of the 1920s, conflicts were so intense that the notion of progress was used to promote both the motor vehicle and the tramway. / These conflicts over the sharing of streets had other implications. First, different sections of Montreal's elite favoured one technology over the other. On the one hand, motorists were well organized. At the same time, tramway concerns were determined to protect their monopoly. This animosity within the elite was intensified by antimonopoly feelings and by dissatisfaction with tramway service. Finally, traffic problems multiplied with motorization: deaths, accidents, law suits and downtown congestion. Traffic became an important preoccupation leading to an increase in police forces and the establishment of numerous organizations dedicated to traffic management. / The popular classes of Montreal were not excluded from these conflicts among the elites. Generally speaking, the entire population was forced to take sides with one group of promoters or the other. Motorization then appears as a factor of division within social classes as well as a phenomenon transcending the barriers between them.

The Chicago Area Transportation Study (CATS) set the standard for urban transportation planning during its original 1955-61 genesis years. This study examined CATS' planning methodology during these years and its 1962 regional transportation plan for the Chicago metropolis which had a planning target year of 1980. The subject focus of this study was on expressway planning while the temporal focus was from the late 1950's to circa 1980. The findings of this study revealed four key reasons why CATS' 1962 expressway plan was largely never implemented. These reasons include the inconsistency of some of CATS' 1962 projections for 1980 versus actual 1980 data, the apolitical orientation of CATS, increased urban environmentalism, and rising expressway infrastructure costs. Yet despite the lack of plan implementation, the literature supports the conclusion that CATS did set the standard, at least in its methodology or planning approach. / Department of Urban Planning

The use of MEPLAN by the Metropolitan Transport Planning Branch of the Cape Town City Council since 1984 was not successful due to apartheid anomalies. EMME/2 was then introduced in 1991 in replacement of MEPLAN. The strengths and weaknesses of both MEPLAN and EMME/2 are recorded in this study.

Over the last decade, there has been rapid growth in research into the influence of the physical environment on physical activity. Previously, individual and social factors dominated research into the influences of physical activity. This new area of study has been built on the understanding that the physical environment may create an opportunity or a barrier to engagement in physical activity behaviours (Sallis & Owen, 1997). This research develops objectively measured features of the physical environment in order to investigate relationships with walking behaviour. Public health research of this nature is still at a preliminary stage, although research expertise outside of public health including transportation, urban planning and geographic information science has much to contribute to this emerging field. This study investigated walking in the neighbourhood in a sample of adults residing in Perth, Western Australia. Objective measurement of the physical environment using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) was conducted including measurement of street connectivity, residential density, land use mix and retail floor area ratio at three different geographic scales (suburb, census collection district, 15 minute walk from a survey participants home). These measures were then combined into an index known as a walkability index and validated against survey participant reported data on walking within the neighbourhood using binary logistic regression. Among other findings, the evidence presented shows that depending on which geographic scale the physical environment is measured at and what type of walking in the neighbourhood is reported, the strength of relationship varies between an objectively measured walkability index and walking behaviour in the neighbourhood. These findings highlight the need to differentiate between walking for transport and walking for recreation, health and exercise when investigating the relationship between physical activity and the environment. These findings also show the importance of geographic scale of measurement in the relationship between physical activity and the physical environment, and the need for current high quality geographic data in this type of research.