Multimodal capacity usage measures how thoroughly the passenger-carrying capacity of different travel modes (ferry, transit, and rail) is being used. We don’t yet have capacity usage measures for active transportation; given their spatial efficiency it can be assumed that if an active transportation connection exists it has additional capacity available for usage.
| PERFORMANCE MEASURE | PERFORMANCE METRICS | PROJECT TASKS | APPROPRIATE CONTEXTS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multimodal Capacity Usage | Ferry persons carried per capacity provided | Assess Alternative Strategies Refine Solutions Assign Resources | Urban Core* Town/Urban* Suburban* |
| Transit persons carried per capacity provided | Assess Alternative Strategies Refine Solutions Assign Resources | Urban Core* Town/Urban* Suburban* |
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| Intercity rail persons carried per capacity provided | Assess Alternative Strategies Refine Solutions Assign Resources | Urban Core* Town/Urban* Suburban* |
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| *sometimes applicable, refer to metric description for more information | |||
- What? Ferry persons carried serve as a measure of multimodal capacity usage.
- Why? Identifying the share of passenger and vehicle capacity used on ferries (under both existing and forecasted future conditions) informs decisions about investments that would expand ferry capacity and/or increase ferry utilization by passengers who walk or bike onto the ferry. Walk/bike passengers tap into underutilized ferry capacity
- Where? Locations where ferry service is provided and/or projects that would add ferry service or increase ferry demand, particularly for walk/bike passengers.
- How? Divide the number of passengers carried by total passenger capacity and total number of vehicles carried by total vehicle capacity. This can be developed for specific routes, study areas, and/or time periods depending on study needs. Ferry capacity varies based on the size of the vehicles carried. For example, total vehicle capacity is reduced during summer months, when the number of recreational vehicles increases as well as the number of vehicles towing trailers. These data are available to WSDOT staff on an internal website (EFS Dashboard). Refer to the Washington State Ferries WSF Traffic Statistics webpage and the WSF 2040 Long Range Plan for goals relating to ferry capacity and utilization by mode.
| METRIC | SOURCES | DATA | ANALYSIS SOFTWARE | CALCULATION | RESOURCES |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ferry persons carried per capacity provided | Ferry occupancy data from the WSF Traffic Statistics webpage | Ferry ridership and vehicle usage data Forecasted occupancy (travel model) | Spreadsheet software Travel model (forecasted usage) | Passenger occupancy divided by passenger capacity Vehicle occupancy divided by vehicle capacity | WSF Traffic Statistics webpage WSF 2040 Long Range Plan |
- What? Total persons carried is a useful indicator of person movement within a corridor, while a comparison with transit person capacity shows how well the passenger capacity is being utilized. Transit modes addressed using this metric includes bus, light rail, commuter rail, and other scheduled shared use services.
- Why? Identifying transit passenger capacity utilization informs decisions about investments that would expand transit capacity and/or increase transit utilization.
- Where? Locations where transit service is provided and/or projects that would expand transit capacity or increase transit ridership.
- How? Transit ridership can be estimated using transit ticketing and boarding data available from local and regional transit agencies. Some data may also be available from the federal government’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Divide the number of passengers carried by total transit passenger capacity within the study area or along a corridor. These data can be developed for specific routes, study areas, and/or time periods depending on study needs. They can also be used as input to the person throughput.
| METRIC | SOURCES | DATA | ANALYSIS SOFTWARE | CALCULATION | RESOURCES |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transit persons carried per capacity provided | Transit providers (persons carried and vehicle capacity) Regional travel demand model (vehicle capacity) | Transit agency ridership counts and vehicle capacity data Forecasted mode share (travel model) Network capacity (travel model) | Spreadsheet software Travel demand model | Passenger occupancy divided by passenger capacity Transit vehicles carried per hour/day | Local transit agencies (transit ridership data) Regional MPOs (travel models) Bureau of Transportation Statistics |
- What? A measure of multimodal capacity usage on intercity passenger rail within the state. Rail system information can estimate ridership and capacity of the rail system. For now, this metric focuses on Amtrak Cascades service provided by WSDOT.
- Why? Identifying rail passenger capacity utilization informs decisions about investments that would expand rail person capacity, affect rail operations, and/or increase rail utilization.
- Where? Locations where rail service is provided and/or projects that would affect rail capacity or increase rail ridership.
- How? Divide the number of rail passengers carried by total passenger capacity. Rail passenger volumes are defined through rail ticketing data or boarding/alighting counts available from the rail division and reported in WSDOT’s Gray Notebook. These data are summarized by rail segment. For example, riders used an average of 62.1% of Amtrak Cascades train capacity on Washington’s peak sub-segment (Olympia – Centralia) in 2018, increasing from 56.8% in 2015 (source: Gray Notebook, 2018).
Note that average train capacity utilization fluctuates throughout the year, with trains selling out during weekends, holidays, and the summer. Train passengers can also bring their bikes along for the ride, although bicycle capacity is currently capped at 10. One can count the number of train trips with sell-out bicycle capacity as a proxy for unmet bicyclist demand for travel by train.
| METRIC | SOURCES | DATA | ANALYSIS SOFTWARE | CALCULATION | RESOURCES |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intercity rail persons carried per capacity provided | Rail providers (persons carried and vehicle capacity) | Rail provider ridership counts and vehicle capacity data Forecasted mode share (travel demand model) | Spreadsheet software Travel demand model | Passenger occupancy divided by passenger capacity | WSDOT's Gray Notebook |