Transport—Traffic Demand Management

TDM is an abstraction of ‘Travel (or Transportation) Demand Management’, it is defined as “a set of tools to offer people better travel information and opportunities and help people choose to reduce their need to travel especially by car. TDM is wide-ranging and covers tools and techniques ranging from land use planning to educating workplaces on the benefits of introducing parking management systems” recently .

The reason why TDM was introduced is traffic problems, which exist and have a potential increase in metropolis area. It seems that of efficient solutions are not widen the road to enhance the infrastructure, or limit the driving speed any more, but other way, more practical and effective immediately.

Travel Demand Management is measures that used to induce, encourage, persuade, or enforce individuals to change their travel habits and favours by offering direct and indirect choices, and consequently moderate the sequent that are generated by increasing traffic congestion, and even social, economic, and environmental problems, for instance, air pollution, noise pollution, excessive consumption of nonrenewable natural resources and so on. Travel Demand Management is strategies and policies, which keen to concern the implementation and influence of travelers’ behaviour, in a way of changing their travel mode, decreasing the usage of vehicles, or restricting their use in time or in space. In another words, TDM anticipate to encourage employers and employees choose other ways of transportation rather than the private car. In a manner of speaking, positive impacts on land use, health, and social, economic and environmental significance that are generated by TDM could be seen in the long term.

TDM measures are a sequence of policies, and can be regulations with aims of influencing individuals and their behaviour, on reducing private vehicle usage, providing alternative choices, and restricting their actions. Several methods are included in TDM measures, such as, ‘pull and push’ measures, regulatory, planning policies, and pricing. ‘Pull’ measures refer to policies or regulations that encourage alternative of transportation mode, whereas, ‘push’ measures refer to policies or regulations that discourage individuals’ vehicle use.

Another concept of TDM measures category is non-fiscal measures and fiscal measures. Non-fiscal measures include those policies that are adopted by planners and policy makers, and fiscal measures are relevant to costs, in another word, costs that related to individuals, such as fuel taxes, parking charges.