The Stockholm Experience – Ten Years of Experience from Travel Demand Modeling – and Ten Important Conclusions

This paper describes how the development of modern Stockholm during the last decades is considered to be a planned development. One of the central ideas for decades has been the integration of public transport with urban planning and renewal. Of greatest importance was the decision in the 1940’s to transform the suburban tram-lines into a modern underground system that penetrated the city core. During the 1950’s and 1960’s an intense period of planning of building activities took place. One new suburb was built every year to cope with the rapid immigration of the region because of the concentrated urbanization process in Sweden in the post-war period. The inner city has an area of 35 sq km. It is surrounded by water and it is connected with the rest of the region by some 25 bridges and tunnels. It contains the central business district (CBD), which is also the site of the national government, head offices of large businesses, department stores, shops and cultural activities. The public transport system is based on the underground railway system that primarily services the established area with the Stockholm municipality with commuter trains that connect the outer suburbs. The two main rail systems are supplemented by feeder bus routes as well as by direct routes leading to the inner city from areas without rail service. In order to ensure a necessary coordination of land use development and public transport investments a negotiating process between the County Council and the municipalities has to be solved. In order to reach such agreements it is urgent to describe the benefits, costs and other consequences of a project.