University of California Transportation Center

Travel demand management policies are the focus of a national debate on ways to limit the growth of local highway congestion and improve urban air quality (Bae, 1993; Orski, 1989). One innovative approach, trip reduction programs, requires changes in individual travel behavior, usually in journey to work trips. While precise local goals and requirements vary, major trip reduction programs focus on large employers who must persuade drive-alone employees to increase vehicle occupancy, limit miles traveled, and eliminate travel (Ferguson, 1990).

Geographic information systems (GIS) are an innovative technical method with the potential to assist trip reduction marketing, education, and travel analysis activities. Geographic information systems are best understood as a computer-based information technology with five related components: locational data, hardware, software, personnel, and operating procedures (Epstein, 1991). This paper provides a case study of implementation success and failure in a pilot GIS application for the Arizona State University trip reduction program.