Description
Task 1: Logging and reflecting your travel pattern in the last 7 days
Your answers to the questions below should be included in the Appendix of your submission.
How many trips do you take on a normal weekday and a normal weekend, on average?
What mode(s) of transportation do you use?
Go to Google Maps, get directions from your home to Hitchcock Hall, workplace (if applicable), your frequently visited grocery store or food shop. Take notes on the travel time and distance by car, bus, bike, and walk. For bus, note on how many buses you need to take (choose 8AM on a weekday as the departure time so that the results reflect the regular schedule).
Are any of these options viable to you? If yes, why don’t you choose them?
Also on Google Maps, observe the land use and road network (and bus network from COTA). You should already know your neighborhood very well from your lived experience. Take a screenshot of your neighborhood map and insert it in your main written report.
Note: A trip is any out-of-home movement on public roads that is 5 minutes or more. For example, walking the dog around the neighborhood is a trip. Going from home to the grocery store is a trip (and going from the grocery store to home is another trip).
Task 2: Columbus metropolitan transportation plan
Link to plan: https://www.morpc.org/2020-2050-metropolitan-transportation-plan-mtp/Links to an external site.
Explore Columbus’s transportation system (Chapter 3) and travel demand management (Chapter 5). Think about the travel demand management (TDM) strategies you learned in class and reflect on Columbus’s strategies.
For this task, you don’t need to add any notes in the appendix.
A transportation plan is usually created by a metropolitan planning organization (such as MORPC in the case of Columbus), which manages transportation and land use for the main, largest city, and all nearby satellite cities (e.g., Dublin, Upper Arlington, New Albany, and similar cities, in the case of Columbus).
Task 3: Comparing Columbus’s TDM with that of another city
Choose a city and search for their transportation plan (search keyword: “CITY NAME transportation plan”). You should choose a big city in the US or internationally, but make sure you have the data or reports to compare. Go to Social Explorer to get the basic data for both cities (e.g., population, population density, % commute by each mode of transportation). Check the street network, transportation options, and other transportation-related information in this city. Think about the similarity between Columbus and this city, and how comprehensive their TDM strategies are, especially compared to Columbus.
No notes are needed for the appendix for this task.
Written report (~ 850 words excluding references and appendix)
This written report is the main part of the assignment (Task 1 notes will become your Appendix).
In your report, summarize your travel patterns (total number of trips, mode, distance) and briefly describe neighborhood land use and street network. (Insert a map of your neighborhood). Reflect on how land use, distance, and other travel options affect your choice of travel mode and number of car trips (hint: use the 5D theory by Cervero and Ewing). Why do you use this mode? Does your choice of mode depend on trip purposes (e.g., work, school, eating out, grocery shopping, visiting friends/ family)? Are there any other factors besides land use that affect the way you travel?
Do you think after Columbus implements the proposed TDM strategies, you will be able to use other modes of transport for daily life, such as going to work, school, and grocery shopping, other than your current mode?
Briefly summarize and rigorously evaluate Columbus’s TDM strategies: are they comprehensive? Are they effective, based on what you learned in this class and the research literature? Why or why not? What might be the impacts (negative and/or positive) of these strategies on transportation, land use, and society? What are other effective strategies that Columbus should use, in your opinion, and why?
Compare the case of Columbus with the city of your choice in terms of TDM (based on the guidance in Task 3). What can Columbus learn from that city’s TDM (from both good and bad practices)?
Make sure you refer to reliable academic or governmental documents to back up your arguments.
General guidelines
The assumed audience of your essay is people who do not have much prior knowledge of transportation. You may use headings to guide readers to the points that you’re making.
Use official, reliable sources, preferably academic papers, book chapters, technical reports, and local & federal government websites. You should use a formal citation style, such as APA, MLA, Chicago, or Harvard.
