Department of Civil & Construction Engineering

University of Nairobi

FCE 545
TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING IIIA

PRINCIPLES OF URBAN
AND REGIONAL
TRANSPORT PLANNING
 Definition and Scope
• Transport planning - a science that seeks to study the
problems that arise in providing transportation facilities
in an urban, regional or national setting and to prepare a
systematic basis for planning such facilities
• Town and county planning - science that deals with the
study of the urban or county "system" covering the
interacting activities using adapted spaces linked by
communications through channels.
• Transport planning is an important part of overall town
and county planning - transport network is an important
channel of a communications.
 Definition and Scope
Motor vehicles

• congestion
• comfort
• lack of safety
• pleasure
• degeneration of
• convenience
the environment

To understand the nature of these problems and formulate

proposals for the safe and efficient movement of goods and
people from one place to another is the subject of transport
planning.
 Interdependence of the Land
Use and Traffic
Mitchell and Rapkin (1954) - urban traffic was a
function of land use. Various kinds of activities based
on the land-called land use "generated" different
amounts and kinds of traffic.

Buchanan (1963) emphasised the inter-relationship

between traffic and buildings in a town. Traffic takes
place because of buildings, and all movements in a
town have an origin and destination in a building
Interdependence of the Land
Use and Traffic

The Land Use-Transportation Cycle

Systems Approach to Transport
Planning

Operations Research
in Transport Planning

Operations Research -
optimising the performance
of a "system".
 Stages in Transport Planning
1.Survey and analysis of existing conditions
2.Forecast, analysis of future conditions and
plan synthesis
3.Evaluation
4.Programme adoption and implementation
5.Continuing study.
 Stages in Transport Planning
1.Survey and analysis of existing conditions
 Definition of survey area - divided into smaller units, called
zones, to study the pattern of movement
 Goals formulation

i. Minimum disruption of the general environment;

ii. Minimum demolition of housing;
iii. Re-vitalisation of public transport;
iv. The removal of through traffic from urban
GOALS centres and residential areas;
v. A high benefit/cost ratio;
vi. Operational feasibility;
vii. A qualitative compatibility with general urban
structure.
 Stages in Transport Planning
1.Survey and analysis of existing conditions
The survey encompasses
Inventory of existing travel
pattern
 Origins and destinations of
Journey by home-interview,
road side interview,
registration number plate
survey, pre-paid post card
survey, screen line and cordon
surveys.
 Movement of goods vehicles
 Movement of public transport
buses and coaches.
 Movement by rail transit.
Inventory of existing transport facilities
 Inventory of streets forming the transport
network, including dimensions, type and
condition of surface, capacity, control
devices, volume of traffic etc.
 Studies on travel time by different modes.
 Inventory of public transport buses, their
operating speeds, headways, schedules,
capacity terminals, passengers carried
etc.
 Inventory of rail transit facilities.
 Parking inventory (on-street off-street),
loading and unloading facilities for trucks.
 Accident data.
 Stages in Transport Planning
1.Survey and analysis of existing conditions
The survey encompasses
Inventory of land-use and economic Basic analysis
activities

 Information on land-use type  Trip generation,

(residential, industrial, commercial,  Trip distribution,
recreational etc.) and intensity for  Trip assignment on the
the various zones. existing network
 Zoning laws in operation  Modal split
 Population statistics, usually from
census operations
 Household structure, including
family income, car-ownership,
family size and sex etc.
 Employment pattern
 School attendance.
 Stages in Transport Planning
2. Forecast, analysis of future conditions
and plan synthesis
• Transport plans are long-range in scope and involve planning for 20 to 25
years ahead.
• Travel pattern and needs for the future year, future economic activity for the
study as well as future land-use pattern also need to be predicted
Future land-use activity arrangement
Future income levels, inputs to the
Family size’, previously
Car ownership rates, formulated Future trip
Employment, trip generation rates
Population, and generation
Other economic activity factors model

• Trip distribution, assignment and modal split are synthesized using the future
predicted parameters in the respective models formulated for the base year
• The output from the above stages yields the flow on each link of the network,
and speed and level of service afforded by the planned facility.
 Stages in Transport Planning
3. Evaluation
• A number of alternative transport plans are feasible for a given set of goals
and policies
• In order to select the best from these, it is necessary to evaluate each of the
alternatives as to how it fulfils the desired objectives
• Cost/Benefit techniques are often used to evaluate the alternatives in
economic terms.
• Depending on the results of evaluation, it may be necessary to revise the
plans or even evolve further alternatives.
 Stages in Transport Planning
3. Programme adoption and implementation
• The best alternative emerging from the evaluation study is selected for
adoption and implementation.
• The stages in which the project is to be implemented are decided with the
consideration for the financial resources.
 Stages in Transport Planning
3. Continuing study
• Because transport planning is a dynamic and complex process, there cannot
be a final plan.
• The final plan adopted undergoes continuous review and updating in a
process of constant iteration and feedback.
• Periodic surveys are carried out to determine the trends in travel patterns,
journey times and other relevant factors. The plan may be readjusted, if need
be.

 It is necessary to consult the affected

Citizen Participation
people in the community and give them a
voice in the formulation of decisions.
 The policies and goals may need to be
redefined as a result of such consultations.
 It is desirable that a rapport with the
community is established right from the start
to minimize controversies and public
criticism.
Stages in Transport Planning
 Difficulties in the Transport
Planning Process
 The transport planning process is complex, involving the
interplay of numerous socio-economic factors - complex
computational procedures.
 Even with considerable advances in model building
technology to accurately synthesise the travel demand, the
probabilistic nature of peoples' behaviour can disrupt
plans.
 The dynamic behaviour of the urban system makes the
whole process iterative with a continuous need for review
and feedback.
 Comprehensive Transport
Planning
Redefining the Objective
Objective of transport planning - MOVEMENT OF PEOPLE AND GOODS
- not necessarily the movement of vehicles

People can be moved by car or by public transport — they could even walk,
but this is increasingly unlikely for other than short distances! For some
movements the car is ideal, for others the bus or other mass transit mode is
preferable.

Comprehensive transport planning is about the optimization of the balance

between the uses of these modes
 Comprehensive Transport
Planning
Redefining the Objective
 The journey from home to work occurs in a short peak period
each morning and is, of course, largely repeated in reverse
each evening.
 Many trips terminate in relatively few locations — the town
centre, the industrial area, etc.
 Car occupancies average around 1.2 persons, and buses can
carry at least ten times more people per length of road – lane

A partial remedy is clear

Some trips from home to work MUST be attracted, or diverted, to
public transport
Comprehensive Transport
Planning
Redefining the Objective
 Comprehensive Transport
Planning
The 'Carrot' and the 'Stick'
Bus - services are too often unreliable,
slow, uncomfortable and crowded.
Car - convenient and reliable
Change of mode 'the carrot'
must therefore and 'the stick'
be induced!!!

Bus services must be Restraint measures must be applied to

But the carrot make the use of the car less attractive
improved, in reliability, in
alone is not • providing fewer parking spaces at
frequency, in convenience and in
enough, the higher cost, closing streets to cars
cost. • allowing congestion to take effect
car will still
(Bus priority measures of one • differential road-use pricing or
be preferred
form or another can usually do a supplementary licensing (operational
lot to meet these requirements) problems)
 Comprehensive Transport
Planning
NOTE:
• Before new roads are built, it is plain that the existing road system
should be used as fully as possible.
• Other typical traffic-management measures to improve on the use of
existing roads, to move people rather than vehicles include :

 Pedestrianization of central shopping-area roads

 Bus priority measures — bus-only lanes etc.
 One-way systems
 Linked traffic signals
 Right-turn bans
 Peak-hour urban clearways.

• After consideration of all of these however, and the application of

appropriate measures there will still be a need for some new roads.
And these have to be planned.
 Comprehensive Transport
Planning
Comprehensive Planning
 Transport planning for a county, covering urban and rural
areas together, must be comprehensive, and based on
financial realism (there is NEVER enough money).
 The roles of public transport, private car restraint, traffic
management measures, and new road construction need to
be fully integrated — both with each other and between
urban and rural areas — to derive the best use of the
inevitably limited resources.
 A transport plan is developed as a complete package of
projects and policies, conceived as a unified whole.
 Comprehensive Transport
Planning
The Transportation Study
Medium-term planning of future transport systems is usually based on a
transportation study
a) Surveying the present-day travel habits of people living and/or working in the specified
area,
b) Developing mathematical formulae which, given details of household structure, income,
car ownership, etc. In the study area, can reproduce present-day travel patterns as
surveyed. The formulae (or 'models') in their simplest form are basically:
i. Trip-end prediction — determining how many trips leave a zone e.G. A group of
households,
ii. Trip distribution — determining the destination of these trips,
iii. Modal split — determining the mode of travel — car or bus,
iv. Assignment — determining the actual roads used,
c) Using these formulae, together with predicted values for future population, incomes,
etc. To predict future travel patterns,
d) Comparing the merits of alternative transport systems to accommodate the predicted
movements. (The comparison is on economic, operational and environmental
grounds, but the final decision is inevitably a subjective one, a political decision, taking
account of public opinion etc. And the relative importance of the evaluated criteria)
 Comprehensive Transport Planning
The Planning Process under Comprehensive Transport Planning
The process, is similar in both urban and rural contexts

Assess the present transportation situation, together with financial and

existing policy constraints on possible future action.

Identify future problems. (There is always a possibility that the best thing
to do is nothing)

Consider the time-scale for problem solution

Develop alternative possible solutions

Finally, transport planning is not a finite exercise. Planning decisions for

the next few years may be irreversible but those for the medium-term
may provide scope for reconsideration. Transport planning is a
continuous process — it needs continuous attention.
 Summary
The objective of comprehensive transport planning is the optimum movement of
people and goods.

Particularly for the journey to work, public transport could be more efficient than the
private car — but is less attractive

To induce greater use of public transport the system needs to be improved and
restraint applied to the use of the private car

County transport planning should be done on a comprehensive basis, developing

integrated packages of public transport, private car restraint, and the optimum use
of both existing and new roads
In larger urban areas, transport planning is usually based on a transportation study
— a means of predicting future travel movements

The preferred strategy, which is not just a collection of unrelated schemes, is best
developed by optimization from a range of integrated possible packages
THE END