The myth of the single mode man : how the mobility pass better meets actual travel demand

The goal of this thesis is to investigate how employer transportation subsidy programs can result in more sustainable outcomes. Cities are growth machines that increasingly seek to mitigate the effects of that growth caused by commensurate increases in auto usage, including congestion and emissions. Employers have an interest in reducing the costs of providing parking, and reducing local congestion, in part to attract and retain employees. Because of coincidental interests, municipalities and employers are natural allies in the fight to control the spatial effects of auto usage. Employers are the nexus for breaking the cycle of auto usage. Federal transportation fringe benefits that allow transit passes to be paid through the employer on a pre-tax basis can subsidize increased usage of transit. The initial research focuses on MIT because of its evolving environmental mission, its size, which allows it to internalize externalities, and its students, who will shape policies that affect mode choice both in the US and internationally. The myth of the single mode man is that people take the same mode to commute to work each day. In practice this myth results in subsidies that encourage more employees to drive than otherwise would. MIT survey data indicates that the single mode man is a good model for significant populations in urban areas: those who are either transit captive, or have a completely car-oriented work or home location. However, a significant portion of the population -- 30%+ at MIT -- is multimodal; they take different modes to work depending on the day.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Block-Schachter, David

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Frederick P. Salvucci.

• Urban Studies and Planning.
• Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/51677

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/51677