(5) Buses serving the lot penetrate downtown Washington only to 10th Street. Commuters working west of this terminal must transfer. Penn Mar Shopping Center: This park-and-ride lot was provided under conditions similar to Eastover. Only this time peak hour bus service was less frequent (30 minute intervals) and the number of cars parked was about 5. The extra bus service was stopped after the first month. Reasons for the limited usage are the same as for Eastover. Gregory Estates: Gregory Estates is an apartment area just north of Seat Pleasant. No off-street fringe lot was provided here but signs were erected advertising the fact that on-street fringe all day parking was permitted and that express buses would operate from the area. This experiment was barely underway when objections from apartment owners required its cancellation. It is unlikely that it would have been successful in any case since a 10 cent saving in fare and ample street parking were available just a few blocks away. Marlow Heights Shopping Center: This lot was arranged in a manner similar to the earlier mentioned shopping centers. However, this one is still in operation and about 30 motorists use it each day. While it has the same basic disadvantages as Eastover and Penn Mar facilities there are these differences: (1) It requires a drive of a mile or more to reach the lower fares and more frequent service of D. C. Transit. (2) Even though patronage is too low to support the bus service, this lot is located along a regular W. M. A. route which was operating before the lot was established. Lot Patronage is not increasing, but the service can continue since bus service costs are shared with regular riders. City of Fairfax: The most recent fringe parking experiment in this area is being conducted by the City of Fairfax in cooperation with W. V. &M. Transit Company and the Fairfax Chamber of Commerce. The city has graded and graveled a lot for 40-50 cars on the north side of Route 50 just east of Route 123. In early August 1964 two special express buses were placed in operation from the lot to downtown Washington with only limited stops along the way. Total trip time is about 1 hour and the Additional bus service is provided by Trail fare is 50 cents one way. ways. The combination of passengers from the lot plus those embarking along the way have the buses operating on a break even basis. A check made in November revealed only about 10 parked cars although some additional passengers were brought to buses by cars not parked at the lot. The high fare, lengthy travel time and distance and infrequent bus service will likely limit use of this facility. 3. FRINGE PARKING HABITS 3.1. Work Travel to Downtown Washington Two large scale surveys of intra urban travel have been conducted within the Washington Area during the past nine years. In 1955, a home interview origin and destination survey was made in which about five percent of all households in the area were questioned concerning their travel habits. In 1961, questionnaires were distributed to approximately 100, 000 federal employees who work in downtown Washington. These questionnaires related to travel to work of these employees and provide detailed data on their travel habits. Table 3-1 indicates the mode of travel of all downtown workers in 1955. Forty-three percent used transit and 53% used autos of the total 270,000 trips to work in downtown. Table 3-2 shows the same information for day shift workers those arriving between 6 A. M. and Transit passengers constitute about 45% of this group. The 71, 000 cars arriving during this period carried about 118, 000 persons or an average occupancy of almost 1.7 persons per vehicle, significantly higher than observed for non-downtown work trips. noon. Downtown federal employees exhibit similar travel habits as shown in Table 3-3. The 92,000 dayshift federal employee trips polled represent about 39% of the total downtown work trips. 2/ Downtown here refers to the area designated as "sector O" in recent travel analyses. These comparisons disregard changes in travel habits and downtown employnent distribution that have taken place between 1955-1961. A less extensive 959 survey of downtown federal employees indicated about the same travel abits as the 1961 survey. |