Market Opportunity Analysis for Short-Range Public Transportation Planning; Method and Demonstration

摘要

This report adds substantially to the body of knowledge concerning short-range public transportation planning for cities in the 50,000 to 500,000 population range. A descriptive comprehensive planning model was developed depicting the necessary information and procedural steps required for the application of market opportunity analysis (from the private business world) to public transportation planning. As depicted in the model the application of market opportunity analysis requires both direction from policy decision areas and data from an engineering data base. When applied, the market needs are determined, a transportation system is developed to meet the needs, and the system is tested. The model was tested in a neighborhood of Jacksonville, Florida, at a cost of approximately $100,000. The report concludes that further demonstration of the planning model will be required to determine whether the benefits from application outweigh the costs of data collection. If the entire process were duplicated in another test city, the costs could be expected to be 50 to 60 percent of the initial effort.