At 11:46 AM 10/04/2000 +0100, you wrote:
>Your New Zealand walking school bus project is very interesting. You ask
>what other data/results you might measure. I see you are measuring the
>environmental impact which presumably includes the reduction in
>car/van/vehicle miles and cold engine start-ups - based on our teleworking
>studies experience I would be interested to know if any reduction in vehicle
>miles is a sustained reduction or if, as happens with some homebased
>teleworkers, the parents "re-allocate" the saved mileage and use it on other
>types of journeys - i.e. Does the vehicle record fewer miles per
>month/annum.

That's a good question. The evaluation of any Transportation Demand
Management must include consideration of these long-term effects, such as
whether it encourages urban dispersion/sprawl or additional non-work trips
(as telework may do).

Although such effects are highly variable, depending on conditions, I
suspect that school trip management could encourage more efficient land
use. In particular, by favoring pedestrian access over driving it makes
urban neighborhoods more attractive for middle-class residents. Perhaps by
itself school trip management may have modest impacts, but it is an
imporant part of an overall program to encourage urban infill as opposed to
sprawl. In this way its possible that school trip management can "leverage"
additional reductions in vehicle travel, by encouraging households to
choose more accessible housing locations and less automobile-dependent
lifestyles.

Sincerely,

Todd Litman, Director
Victoria Transport Policy Institute
"Efficiency - Equity - Clarity"
1250 Rudlin Street
Victoria, BC, V8V 3R7, Canada
Phone & Fax: 250-360-1560
E-mail: litman@...
Website: http://www.vtpi.org