This is the first phase of a two-phase project to account for commercial vehicles in urban transportation models. The objectives of this first phase, are as follows:
Based on the results of this first phase, a decision will then be made by the FHWA whether or not to proceed with full development of one or more improved methods and preparation of the associated technical guidance.
This report addresses the second objective to understand the magnitude and distribution of commercial vehicle travel. This is one of three reports to address each of the three objectives listed above, and there is a final report for this phase of the project. The final report covers all aspects of the project, but does not contain the same level of detail as the individual reports.
The purpose of this report is to use available data and information to develop an improved understanding of the magnitude and spatial/temporal distribution of different types of commercial vehicle travel. In this study, a commercial vehicle is defined as one that is used for commercial purposes. Most, but not necessarily all, commercial vehicles will be registered as commercial vehicles. The objective of the Magnitude and Distribution task in the work scope is to answer the following specific questions:
In the process of collecting data to answer these three questions, we discovered the following:
In order to answer the questions posed, data sources identified in the literature review (which is documented in the first report of this study) were reviewed and evaluated for 13 metropolitan areas in the United States. These 13 urban areas were chosen on the basis of the available datasets to represent a cross-section of population ranges and regions of the country. The 13 urban areas are shown in Table 1.1.
| Urban Area | Region | Population |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | West | 12,384,000 |
| San Francisco | West | 4,022,000 |
| Detroit | Midwest | 3,836,000 |
| Atlanta | South | 2,977,000 |
| San Diego | West | 2,653,000 |
| Houston | South | 2,487,000 |
| Denver | Midwest | 1,993,000 |
| Portland | West | 1,552,000 |
| Sacramento | West | 1,394,000 |
| Orlando | South | 1,160,000 |
| Winston-Salem | South | 233,000 |
| Greensboro | South | 223,000 |
| High Point | South | 125,000 |
The data were summarized for the 13 categories of commercial vehicles identified in the literature review. As described in Section 2.2, these categories were revised, yielding a final set of 12 categories for analysis in this task. While it may be useful to eventually combine categories for modeling purposes, the 12 categories are reported separately in this document to provide full information. The definition of a commercial vehicle also was debated and refined as part of this work.
Primary and secondary data sources were obtained and analyzed for each category of commercial vehicle. Each of these data sources is described separately in this report. The purpose and use of each data source was considered; in some cases, data sources were not deemed useful for this study.
Following the data analysis, summaries of the fleet size, vehicle miles traveled, and average trip length were evaluated for each urban area and commercial vehicle category. These data also were analyzed as a function of total vehicle miles traveled and metropolitan area population to understand relationships across categories and metropolitan areas. Additional summaries by time period and facility type also were prepared.
This report contains five sections and four technical appendices, which were added to report on data that were too voluminous to be presented in the report. Section 2.0 presents a detailed definition of the term 'commercial vehicle' for the purposes of this study and summarizes the commercial vehicle categories established for this review. This section also includes definitions of commercial vehicle categories that are contained in some of the data sources being analyzed.
Section 3.0 describes the data sources evaluated to provide information on the spatial and temporal distribution of commercial vehicles in urban areas. There are five general types of data reviewed for this study: commercial vehicle surveys, vehicle registration data, vehicle count data, category-specific data sources, and data from individual contacts.
Section 4.0 presents the results of the process to quantify the magnitude and distribution of commercial vehicles. The results of the analysis from the combined data sources are analyzed by category, urban area, time period, and facility type. Relationships among the data are identified by scaling the data in individual categories or cities by population and vehicle miles traveled. The variability and similarity among the summary results are discussed.
Section 5.0 of this report summarizes the findings of the study. The availability of the different data sources and gaps in the available data are presented and discussed. Considerations for aggregating categories of commercial vehicles are provided and related to discussions of the priorities for modeling commercial vehicles.
Appendix A presents paratransit data from 300 cities. These data were extracted from the Federal Transit Administration Section 15 transit database. Appendix B includes school bus statistics for about 65 school districts. These data were extracted from the 'School Bus Fleet Survey' annual report. Taxicab data from a taxicab fleet survey are included in Appendix C, and airport taxi and rental car data are presented in Appendix D. A list of FHWA vehicle classes is presented in Appendix E.
