Hitting the roads with alternative modes; An evaluation of York Region's TDM policies

Abstract

Traffic congestion is a growing and urgent concern for municipal governments. Congestion mitigation policies have traditionally sought to increase the capacity for cars, yet this approach has a tendency to actually increase congestion. The Transportation Demand Management approach, on the other hand, influences the convenience, price and safety of alternative travel modes while reducing the demand for driving. York Region has incorporated TDM policies into several of its plans, and this report investigates the TDM components of its plans by finding whether its interpretation of TDM is accurate and whether its policy environment is supportive of TDM. The report finds that the Region’s interpretation was consistent with those of best practice case studies, and that it performs fairly well against a set of evaluative criteria. Nine recommendations are provided on how to improve York Region’s interpretation of TDM and on how it can better meet all the evaluative criteria.