Research, Research, Research: ACCS TDM Resource Center Now on the Web
This is the second in a series of regular posts entitled "Research, Research, Research" about the Arlington County Commuter Services (ACCS) Program for Research and Evaluation. First post: (Research, Research, Research: Getting Started, April 8, 2007)
About a year and half ago ACCS embarked upon a program to develop and implement a Research and Evaluation Plan to assess the transportation and air quality impacts of our TDM program and to better understand our customers. In October, 2006 a 97-page, multi-year Plan for Research and Evaluation (PDF) was completed as were some initial data gathering efforts and original research. 
Early results show that ACCS is having a very positive effect on reducing traffic congestion and increasing the use of transportation options. We now have an ACCS TDM Research Center web sit at www.CommuterPage.com/research to share the details of what we are learning with the public and our industry colleagues.
The site is a work in progress. Much more is being planned. As studies are conducted they will also be added to the site. But rather than wait until everything is perfect to launch the site, we thought that because there's already a lot of good information available, that we should start sharing it now. We invite your comments.
At the moment, there are nearly 40 studies in the database with 17 of those being studies conducted on behalf of ACCS. You can sort the database by topic, key word or year. For ease of use, we've provided a consistent summary of each study that describes who sponsored and conducted the research as well as the purpose, methodology and key findings. Where available we provide a copy of the study report or PowerPoint presentation and any available related materials such as the data tables and questionnaires. This is our way of providing "just the facts" as we get them.
In addition to sharing the reports and data we are also in the process of providing what we are calling "Knowledge Papers." The Knowledge Papers provide an overview of what we know about TDM based upon an analysis of various and multiple studies. There's even a transportation acronym dictionary and links to other related research sites.
Over the next few months we'll plan on discussing key pieces of what you can find at the ACCS TDM Research Center here on our CommuterPageBlog. Please take a look around and let us know what you think.
Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria.
