Ridership Forecasting

It is often impossible to truly assess the benefits that a new transit line will provide, or plan for the operating and capital needs of new service, without understanding the demand for riders that a proposed service will generate. CTG uses scalable solutions to estimate travel demand for a variety of large and small transit projects. Sometimes this means developing and running large state-of-the-practice regional models, while other times it means creating modest sketch tools and sensitivity analyses.

Our experience allows us to fit the effort to a project’s need and a client’s budget. And it always means methods and results in plain language, not model jargon.

  • Four Step Travel Demand Models (using CUBE, TransCad, EMME2, etc)
  • Activity- and Tour-based Modeling
  • Travel Network Coding and Evaluation
  • FTA SUMMIT and User-Benefit Results
  • Latent Demand and GIS-based Demand Models
  • Spider Diagram and Desire Line Analyses
  • LEHD Commute and Labor Shed Analyses
  • Customized Sketch Tools and Spreadsheet Applications
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Our services are built around four primary practice areas. Select an area to learn more about the services we offer and projects we’ve completed:

These are a few examples of our projects where our work involved ridership forecasting.

Photo Oklahoma City Fixed Guideway Study Oklahoma City, OK For this system plan, we produced operating plans and travel demand model ridership forecasts for an enhanced bus network, high speed transit corridors, HOV lanes, and a downtown streetcar. Download case study >

Photo Exposition Corridor Transit Project AA/EIS/EIR Los Angeles, CA We developed guideway running times and operating plans, bus feeder networks, ridership model networks, and O&M costs for a range of alternative modes studied over two construction phases. Download case study >

Photo Atlanta Regional Transit Vision Plan Atlanta, GA We were part of the development of operating statistics, costs, and ridership for a multi-agency, multimodal plan distilled from a list of 63 initial projects evaluated for their cost effectiveness, regional viability, and other measures. Download case study >

Photo Detroit DOT Woodward LRT Project Detroit, MI This innovative public-private partnership is bringing light rail to Detroit in two phases. We’ve been charged with operating plans, ridership forecasting support, and the creation of a new O&M model that incorporates light rail. Download case study >