Intercity travel demand in the Washington Subcorridor of the West Coast Corridor has been rising and will continue to do so in the future, based on the projected rising population and increasing per capita income. The extent of the growth in travel demand will depend to a large degree on the price of fuel and the achievement of federally mandated automobile fuel efficiencies. A price elasticity of -.28 percent was found for gasoline within the State of Washington. Population growth is projected to be greatest in suburban areas not well served currently by public transportation. Following current trends, each travel mode would gain additional riders with automobile travel growing most. An expansion of intercity bus service would be profitable under low, medium and high priced fuel scenarios. Railroad passenger ridership could more than quadruple with vastly improved service, but the annual operating losses would be very substantial and the total ridership still remain small. The capital construction costs would be enormous. Highway travel is expected to grow between 60 percent and 200 percent depending on the price of gasoline. During an energy shortage intercity bus has the greatest potential for moving people using a minimum of fuel. Intercity rail is second best. The automobile and aircraft mode have the lowest fuel efficiency. The Federal Railroad Administration's proposed restructuring of Amtrak will reduce the subcorridor's railroad ridership by one-half.


    Access

    Access via TIB

    Check availability in my library


    Export, share and cite



    Baltimore-Washington Corridor Magnetic Levitation Feasibility Study

    Kinstlinger, J. / Carlton, S. G. / American Society of Civil Engineers et al. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1995



    Corridor-Based Emergency Evacuation System for Washington, D.C.

    Liu, Yue / Chang, Gang-Len / Liu, Ying et al. | Transportation Research Record | 2008


    Washington, D.C./Richmond Rail corridor: community development strategies

    Boeschenstein, W. / Gulak, M. / Okerlund, G. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2004


    Study of Sustainable Maritime Transport on the Brazilian Coast—Green Corridor

    Moura, Delmo Alves / Botter, Rui Carlos | Springer Verlag | 2018