Have they missed the tram? : a case study on well-timed public transport in new housingdevelopments

Timing in public transport is crucial. It determines, for example, whether you arrive on time at the railway station, which is important for your chances of making or missing your connection. In this research, another type of timing is considered, namely of the development of public transport facilities and the impact of this development on the use of these facilities. An important policy topic in spatial planning and transport policy is that of improving accessibility. In transport policy, the goal is to accommodate faster travel, and to make it cleaner and safer. Next to travelling by passenger vehicle, bicycle, or on foot, one of the transport alternatives available to people is the use of public transport. In current spatial planning in the Netherlands, one of the goals is to provide new housing developments with access to a well-timed and adequate public transport network. However, the terms well-timed and adequate have not been further defined. Early implementation of a public transport network leads to high costs in the beginning, as the number of residents in a new neighbourhood is low, initially. But what if such an early implementation would lead to more public transport use by future dwellers? One of the thoughts that triggered this interest was that, if a public transport network would be developed in the first stages of a new housing development, residents may start using this public transport instead of their cars. This could result in less car-oriented travel patterns and more public transport users. From a contrasting point of view it may not matter when access to a public transport network is established, because residents of new housing developments tend to be more mobile and, therefore, more likely to use a form of personal transportation. According to this view, it is unlikely that an early and adequate public transport network would influence this behaviour