Application of a LUTI model for the assessment of land use plans and public transport investments

Integrated land-use and transport interaction models (LUTI) are praised for their ability to evaluate land-use and transport planning in an integrated and consistent modeling system. However, applications of empirically estimated land use models are rare. This paper will present the application of the Dutch national land-use/transport interaction model TIGRIS XL in a recent land-use and transport policy appraisal. This case study concerns integrated transport and land use policy plans for the largest housing development site in the Netherlands. It concerns a doubling of the size of the new town Almere located near Amsterdam. In Almere, about 60 000 dwellings are to be built and 100 000 additional jobs are to be created in the period up to 2030. The land use policy plans consist of different spatial development patterns, each with a tailored public transport investment programs. In addition, a national system of road pricing is assumed to be realized. The combination of land use plans with supportive public transport investment plans makes it a typical planning issue to be evaluated with an integrated land-use and transport interaction model. The evaluation of the case study includes the analysis of effects on population development and job location, mobility and accessibility impacts, including indicators such as modal split, motorway road traffic levels, congestion levels and travel time benefits. The paper shows that the different land-use policy alternatives do not differ strongly in terms of transport and accessibility benefits, mainly due to the road pricing scheme.