Quote:
Originally Posted by electricron
Induced demand is basically hidden demand. It's really there, drivers will choose the newer expanded lanes over other slower highways if given a chance. Why do so many suggest it's not a real demand?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_demand
Induced demand, or latent demand, is the phenomenon that after supply increases, more of a good is consumed.
Taking it out of the transportation lingo, let's use crops instead. When farmers overproduce, prices for that commodity falls, resulting in increasing sales because the price fell.
The price of gasoline has a similar effect on traffic, as the price for fuel drops, more vehicle miles are driven. |
Yeah i think the whole concept of induced demand confuses people more than it illuminates.
The way I always thought about is that there is X demand for trips, and expanding highways increases the capacity so more trips can be taken.
The reason to oppose highway expansion isn't induced demand, its that highways take up valuable urban space to move a relatively little amount of people. 1 lane of freeway can move about 2,000/hour vs 1 ROW of heavy raill which can move about 40,000/hr.