Author(s)

S. Basbas

Abstract

Within the framework of this paper the potential role of Park and Ride as an effective traffic demand reduction strategy is examined by using a case study. The case study is the city of Thessaloniki, Greece which has a population of around one million inhabitants and is the second biggest city in the country. The preferences and intentions for Park and Ride, as stated by the users of six parking stations located in the perimeter of the central area of Thessaloniki, are presented and discussed. The questionnaire-based survey took place during the period November-December 2004 and a total number of 196 valid questionnaires were collected. Results have shown that the potentiality of a bus based Park and Ride scheme seems to be very poor since 96% of the drivers walk from the parking station to the final destination and only 3% use buses in the existing situation. Keywords: Park and Ride, traffic demand, transport strategies. 1 Introduction Park and Ride has been considered, since the decade of 1990s, a demand management tool, primarily used to confront traffic congestion problems in urban areas by combining private car trips and public transport trips. The Park and Ride facility clearly fits the definition of a multimodal and intermodal facility [1]. It is argued that problems like congestion, peaking, parking, accidents, pedestrian conditions and environmental conditions have been a factor in the decentralization of the inner city [2]. The success of Park and Ride has to be justified in terms of politics and economics (facilitation of visitor growth without encouraging traffic growth) [3]. There are a number of different types of

Keywords

Park and Ride, traffic demand, transport strategies.