Chapter 3
Approaches to and concepts
in Transportation Planning
STUDY OBJECTIVES
• Briefly explain the systems approach to the
transport planning process
• Briefly explain the cyclic approach to the
transport planning process
• Understand the importance of land-use and
transport planning in the public sector
• Have insight into, and be able to explain, the
integrated transport planning approach with
specific reference to its purpose, framework, and
underlying principles
• Outline the basic integrated transport plan
and its elements
• Explain various important concepts used in
transportation planning
• Outline the concept of business and marketing
plans in public transport
• Discuss the concepts, and important role, of
the implementation, monitoring and review
stages in the transport planning process
3.1 NEW APPROACHES TO THE
TRANSPORTATION PLANNING
PROCESS
3.1.1 INTRODUCTION
2 approaches to transport planning:
The systems approach, and
the cyclic approach.
3.1.1 INTRODUCTION cont’
Past:
• if the land-use pattern of a town or city could
be defined for some future date then
• the associated traffic pattern could also be
determined and
• a suitable transport system designed to fit in.
3.1.1 INTRODUCTION cont’
• This approach fails to recognise that traffic
flows alter in response to changing land-use
patterns and vice versa
• A city should be seen as a system which
evolves, where land uses and traffic flows are
interdependent.
3.1.2 THE SYSTEMS APPROACH
This approach argues that:
Transport facilities fulfill a market role in
determining the amount of land that is
available for development at different levels of
accessibility;
A transport system should not be chosen
exclusively on its ability to meet travel
demand.
3.1.2 THE SYSTEMS APPROACH cont’
The design of a transport system should be
achieved by a process of successively
constrained choices.
3.1.2 THE SYSTEMS APPROACH cont’
• Sequence of constrained choices for the
SYSTEMS APPROACH:
i. Specify the long-run developmental
objectives for the region.
E.G. have strong central area and avoid lowdensity peripheral (outside) areas
3.1.2 THE SYSTEMS APPROACH cont’
ii. Identify the location and investment
decisions which together move in the
direction of the first level objectives,
e.g. housing investment would have to be
diverted from peripheral areas into the
existing built-up area;
3.1.2 THE SYSTEMS APPROACH cont’
iii. Specify the levels of accessibility needed to
induce (create) the locational and
investment changes required to achieve the
long-run developmental objectives
e.g. ensure poor accessibility to the peripheral
areas, and good accessibility within the builtup area
iv. Designate the levels of service implied by the
accessibility conditions,
e.g. high-speed public transport within the builtup area, with low-speed motor vehicle access
on dual-purpose streets from peripheral
(outside) areas.
3.1.2 THE SYSTEMS APPROACH cont’
SYSTEMS APPROACH is characterized by:
• the desire to identify and define the objectives
of the overall urban system, including the
transport system.
• This procedure is based on the use of criteria
and standards which are related to the
original objectives.
3.1.2 THE SYSTEMS APPROACH cont’
Advantages:
1. It allows for the implementation of transport
proposals to be used positively as a
determinant of urban form.
2. It can be applied to assess the impact of
transport proposals on the short-term
movement habits
3.1.2 THE SYSTEMS APPROACH cont’
3. It can be applied to assess the impact of
transport proposals on the long-term
locational behaviour of firms and individuals.
4. It also enables modifications to be made to
the preferred urban structure in the light of
the impact of the implementation of
transport proposals.
3.1.2 THE SYSTEMS APPROACH cont’
• The systems approach distinguishes between
urban transport planning as an engineering
exercise, on the one hand, and as the design
of a framework for the interaction for a
viable urban community on the other.
3.1.2 THE SYSTEMS APPROACH cont’
Drawbacks (disadvantages)
1. It is very difficult to develop true alternative
structures and policies if the starting point of
the exercise is one set of common
objectives.
2. The complex interrelationships involved in its
application could well be self-defeating
unless handled by experienced
professionals.
3.1.3 THE CYCLIC APPROACH
• The cyclic approach is concerned primarily
with the development of true alternative sets
of plans or policies.
• Rather than having a traditional and basically
linear progression from a common set of
objectives there should be alternative sets of
plans and policies to evaluation and selection.
3.1.3 THE CYCLIC APPROACH cont’
• A cyclic planning process solves this with each
cycle commencing with the formulation (or reformulation) of design, criteria, standards and
proposed policies for each alternative to be
tested.
• At the end of each cycle conclusions are
drawn and decisions made in order to
determine which aspects of the alternatives
should be considered further.
3.1.3 THE CYCLIC APPROACH cont’
Advantages:
1. It ensures that different goals and objectives
can be derived from each alternative (in
contrast to the traditional and systems
approaches which rely on the formulation of
one set of common goals).
2. This in turn makes it easier to develop plans
and policies, which are true alternatives.
3.1.3 THE CYCLIC APPROACH cont’
Drawback (disadvantage)
• Difficult to practically implement
3.2 THE INTEGRATED TRANSPORT
PLANNING APPROACH
3.2.1 PURPOSE OF INTEGRATED TRANSPORT
PLANNING
The purpose of integrated transport planning is
to resolve transport issues and problems in
accordance with the goals and objectives of
the authority.
3.2.1 PURPOSE OF INTEGRATED TRANSPORT
PLANNING cont’
• Transport planning must be integrated with
other branches of community planning,
notably land use and development planning.
The process includes:
• identifying goals and objectives and
• generating,evaluating and implementing
policies, strategies and projects in order to
achieve the stated goals and objectives.
3.2.1 PURPOSE OF INTEGRATED TRANSPORT
PLANNING cont’
• Issues and problems are the reason for
undertaking transport planning.
• Goals and objectives provide its focus and
policies,
• and strategies and projects are its products.
3.2.1 PURPOSE OF INTEGRATED TRANSPORT
PLANNING cont’
Thus, an integrated transport plan might include
all or some of the following:
i. a land use framework and strategy
ii. policies and strategies for infrastructure
provision
iii. travel and congestion management policies
and strategies
iv. public transport policies and strategies;
3.2.1 PURPOSE OF INTEGRATED TRANSPORT
PLANNING cont’
v. private transport policies and strategies
regulating the movements of private cars,
vans, light delivery vehicles (LDVs), motor
cycles, bicycles and pedestrians.
vi. freight movement and loading
vii. a supply management strategy for public
transport detailing the integrated network
and permission policies for corridors and
routes;
3.2.1 PURPOSE OF INTEGRATED TRANSPORT
PLANNING cont’
viii. Road traffic safety policies and strategies;
ix. an integrated long-tern, financial plan;
x. a business marketing plan for public
transport; and
xi. a short-term prioritised rolling budget for
implementation of the plan.
3.2.2 FRAMEWORK FOR GUIDELINES AND
REQUIREMENTS FOR INTERGRATED
TRANSPORT PLANS
The main components of an integrated
transport plan, can be differentiated as:
• core activities - planning activities which are
common to all the major components of an
integrated transport plan; and
• functional activities or plan - which are
specialist plans within the overall integrated
transport plan.
3.2.3 PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING THE
INTEGRATED TRANSPORT
PLANNING PROCESS
A) PLANNING AS A CONTINUOUS PROCESS
• This entails continuous review and testing of
goals and objectives against key performance
indicators (KPls).
B) BALANCE BETWEEN LONG-TERM AND SHORTTERM PLANNING
• Need this to achieve a balance of low-capital
and high-capital projects and for investments
in transport infrastructure
3.2.3 PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING THE INTEGRATED
TRANSPORT PLANNING PROCESS cont’
C) REALISTIC HANDLING OF FUTURE
UNCERTAINTIES
• A single future is inflexible when other future
eventuates.
• future uncertainty should be provided for in the
planning process.
• Specific
• Scenarios, or visions, should be bench-marked
against best and worst case scenarios.
3.2.3 PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING THE INTEGRATED
TRANSPORT PLANNING PROCESS cont’
D) BALANCE BETWEEN THE ELEMENTS OF
PLANNING STUDIES
E) ENCOURAGING CONSTRUCTIVE PUBLIC
PARTICIPATION
• Planning should not be undertaken solely from a
technical standpoint:
• constructive public participation is an essential
component.
• This will prevent public opposition towards plans
which can easily result in delays and frustrations
for all.
3.2.3 PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING THE INTEGRATED
TRANSPORT PLANNING PROCESS cont’
F) INTEGRATION OF TRANSPORT AND LAND USE
PLANNING
• transportation of goods and people is not an
end in itself, but a means to achieving wider
community objectives like economic
development.
• Transport is a significant cost factor in
manufacturing, distribution and retail activity.
3.2.3 PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING THE INTEGRATED
TRANSPORT PLANNING PROCESS cont’
• Integrating land use and transport can
minimise the cost of production and
distribution and contain (keep from
increasing) the mobility costs for households
and individuals.
G) CONSIDERATION OF ALL MODES
• To be comprehensive, all transport modes has
to be taken into consideration
3.2.4 BASIC OUTLINE OF AN
INTEGRATED TRANSPORT PLAN
The main elements of an integrated transport plan
are listed below:
i. A description of the existing transport situation
(status quo)
• The description should include existing goals and
objectives, the public and private (road and rail)
transportation networks, population and
employment distribution, land use, trip-making
characteristics, transport problems, issues, and
environmental constraints.
3.2.4 BASIC OUTLINE OF AN INTEGRATED
TRANSPORT PLAN cont’
iii. A detailed demand or market analysis for
movement by either public or private modes
of travel, in different corridors or along the
routes which comprise the integrated
transport plan public and private networks;
viii.A long-term or strategic plan designed to
meet the various transport needs of the area
in terms of the adopted polities.
3.2.4 BASIC OUTLINE OF AN INTEGRATED
TRANSPORT PLAN cont’
xi. A business and marketing plan for public
transport, setting out the public transport
market analysis and the marketing plan.
xii. A monitoring programme, specified in terms
of key performance indicators (KPls), which
measures the effectiveness of the
implementation programme in achieving the
specified objectives;
3.2.4 BASIC OUTLINE OF AN INTEGRATED
TRANSPORT PLAN cont’
xii. A financial plan giving estimates and
expected sources of revenue and
expenditure arising out of the preparation,
implementation and operation of the
transport plan.
3.2.5 ILLUSTRATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN THE ELEMENTS
OF A TRANSPORT PLAN
EXAMPLE of a Transport Plan
(A) PROBLEM
• Central business district (CBD) streets are
congested with low occupancy vehicles during
peak periods.
• Travel times are long and parking facilities are
inadequate.
• On-street parking adds to the congestion and
inhibits the free flow of public transport vehicles.
EXAMPLE of a Transport Plan cont’
(B) ISSUE
• Conflict of possible goals as follows;
(i) to cater for private car traffic demand by
creating additional road and parking space; or
(ii) to reduce private car traffic demand to
encourage public transport.
EXAMPLE of a Transport Plan cont’
(C) GOAL
• To encourage public transport travel to and
within the CBD.
EXAMPLE of a Transport Plan cont’
(D) OBJECTIVES
(i) to increase the peak hour public transport
modal share of commuter tips to the CBD
from 50 percent to 70 percent by 2000; and
(ii) to reduce parking supply from the current
capacity of 70000 to 40000 by 2000.
EXAMPLE of a Transport Plan cont’
(E) POLICY
• Restraint of private car usage for trips to the
CBD.
• Promotion of effective public transport
concentrating initially on the fast growing carowning suburbs and then promoting it in all
areas.
EXAMPLE of a Transport Plan cont’
(F) STRATEGIES
• Undertake a number of complementary
projects at specified estimated costs:
i. Implement radical bus priority schemes by
dedicating general road space to buses only;
ii. Improve bus penetration of target areas at
both origin and destination;
EXAMPLE of a Transport Plan cont’
Strategies cont’
iii. Improve off-peak bus services within the CBD;
iv. Finance public transport improvements from
new CBD entry levies on low-occupancy
vehicles;
v. Reduce parking standards from 4 bays/100m^2
of gross leasable area to 2 bays/100m^2
vi. Test responses to the above measures by public
involvement campaigns and surveys.
(G) MONITORING
i. Conduct traffic counts on a cordon around
the CBD to show the collective effectiveness
of strategies;
ii. Monitor public response, costs, travel times,
parking demand and retail sales figures in
the CBD to obtain indicators of how
effectively the problem is being solved.
• Where behavioural adjustments are threatening
to the property market or the viability of the
targeted area, it could prove to be necessary to
modify the policy or strategy so as not to
undermine investor and business confidence,
• Alternatively, it could be necessary to implement
the policy comprehensively, over a metropolitan
or even provincial area, to avoid giving one area
advantage over another.
• This example illustrates the need for provincial or
even national co-ordination.
3.3 IMPORTANT CONCEPTS IN
TRANSPORTATION PLANNING
3.3.2 SUMMARY OF DEFINITIONS OF TRANSPORT
PLANNING TERMINOLOGY
 Accessibility is the ease of access, expressed as
time or cost, to residents of activities such as
work, shopping, school and recreation.
 Contract is an agreement between an authority
and an operator regarding the delivery of a public
transport service at an agreed price.
3.3.2 SUMMARY OF DEFINITIONS OF
TRANSPORT PLANNING TERMINOLOGY cont’
Effectiveness is the maximising of the extent
to which the services provided meet the
stated transport objectives and the needs of
the community
Efficiency is the minimising of the total cost of
providing a unit of capacity e.g. a
passenger_kilometre
3.3.2 SUMMARY OF DEFINITIONS OF
TRANSPORT PLANNING TERMINOLOGY cont’
Framework is an outline or skeleton which
provides the structure and form around which
a plan, or policy, or strategy is constructed
Goal is an idealised and end-state of the
system of a desired direction for the evolution
of a system.
lnfrastructure is the stock of fixed capital
equipment facilities in the transport system.
3.3.2 SUMMARY OF DEFINITIONS OF
TRANSPORT PLANNING TERMINOLOGY cont’
Integrated plan is a plan which encompass a
system which includes land use, spatial
development infrastructure services and the
finance thereof.
3.3.2 SUMMARY OF DEFINITIONS OF
TRANSPORT PLANNING TERMINOLOGY cont’
Integrated transport plan is a plan produced
as a result of an integrated process and
relating to the regulation, provision and
management of transport infrastructure
(roads, rail, stations, terminals and public
transport facilities) and for regulating public
transport operations and services and the use
of infrastructure by both operators of public
transport and private travellers.
3.3.2 SUMMARY OF DEFINITIONS OF
TRANSPORT PLANNING TERMINOLOGY cont’
Issue is that which arises in a national,
provincial or local community when there are
conflicting goals and objectives (desires or
perceptions) within the community.
Objective is a target, the attainment of which
will help towards reaching a stated goal.
3.3.2 SUMMARY OF DEFINITIONS OF
TRANSPORT PLANNING TERMINOLOGY cont’
Passenger transport is a generic term which
describes the movement/conveyance of
people by any travel mode, including
movement on foot, by motorised and nonmotorised modes.
It encompasses both inter-city urban and rural
public travel, for any purpose, by air, sea and over
land by both private and pubic travel modes, for
example car, metered taxi, minibus taxi, bus,
coach, tram and light and heavy rail.
3.3.2 SUMMARY OF DEFINITIONS OF
TRANSPORT PLANNING TERMINOLOGY cont’
Strategy is a plan or programme of action to
be taken in terms of a policy. Such action may
often take the form of a series of projects.
Subsidised service contract is an agreement
to operate a route or network in terms of a
public transport plan under which the
operator is remunerated partly by passenger
fares and partly from subsidy support in terms
of a tendered contract.
3.3.2 SUMMARY OF DEFINITIONS OF
TRANSPORT PLANNING TERMINOLOGY cont’
Transport plan is a plan prepared by a
transport authority which integrates
infrastructure, land-use, public transport,
private transport, goods movement, traffic
and travel demand management plans and
programmes.
3.3.3 BUSINESS AND MARKETING
PLANS FOR PUBLIC TRANSPORT
Purpose BUSINESS AND MARKETING PLANS :
• To ensure that public, transport services are
more consumer orientated and delivered in
accordance with commercial principles
The plans should contain the following typical
elements of the market mix:
i. Marketing research to facilitate the
identification of the need for public
transport services (like commuting, scholar
travel, shopping and business travel,
recreational travel etc)
–
Aimed at mode, price and price sensitivity
ii. Product definition including the range of
public transport services should be
described in the business plan.
–
Product definition should include a description
of the desired attributes, quality and features of
the different services.
iii. Place considerations will include the form of
delivery, whether by tendering or concession
or by allowing private operators to compete
for custom.
iv. Price (fares) determination will be the most
important component of the public transport
marketing mix.
v. Promotion measures to be covered in the
public transport business marketing plan
should include:
–
–
–
–
advertising,
personal selling,
sales promotion and
publicity.
vi. Clear definition of the target market for
services should be a clear imperative for
transport authorities, particularly in the
determination of contract services.
3.3.4 IMPLEMENTATION
• The implementation programme translates a
plan or strategy into action and consists of
projects designed to carry out the stated
strategies.
• All projects, whether of a long-term or shortterm nature, should feature in the same
implementation programme, accompanied by
estimates of annual costs, total cost, and the
total time period for completion.
3.3.4 Implementation Programme cont’
A typical implementation programme should
consist of a set of projects to be carried out.
The programme should include descriptions of
the following:
priority ratings of all projects with an account
of the criteria and the weights used to rate the
projects;
3.3.4 Implementation Programme cont’
the category of each project of new public
transport service and a site plan or drawing or
schedule of service;
linkage of each project of new or amended
public transport service to the goals and
objectives of the integrated transport plan;
the estimated total implementation cost of
projects and public transport services;
3.3.4 Implementation Programme cont’
the duration of the project/scheme/public
transport contract or concession;
the estimated implementation costs of each year
of the five-year programme;
an account of any appropriate design standards
for infrastructure or level of service adjustment of
contracted public transport services; and
the budget for marketing public transport during
the course of the programme.
3.3.5 MONITORING
The intention of monitoring is thus to find out:
how the implementing of the integrated
transport plan is progressing;
whether the stated goals and objectives are
being met;
3.3.5 MONITORING cont’
the extent to which improvements in the
transport environment are being achieved;
what constraints or limitations are acting on
the transport system; what scope exists for
relaxing the constraints of the existing system.
• THE END