Acknowledgments

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(No Transcript)
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Acknowledgments

• Maine Department of Transportation
• David Nelson
• Tracy Perez
• Acadia National Park
• John Kelly
• SYSTRA Consulting
• Lisa DiTaranti
• Monica Barrow

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Acadia National Park

• Located on the coast of Maine.
• Eighth most heavily visited national park.
• 2.5 million visitors per year.
• Over 80 between June and September.

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Acadia National Park

• One of smallest parks in total area.
• Most activity on Mount Desert Island.
• Park and island towns tightly intertwined.
• State and local roads run through park.

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Issues/Problems

• 97 of visitors arrive by private vehicle.
• Parking lots are overflowing.
• Visitors park on shoulders, in travel lanes, and
  off-road.
• Up to 85 of visitors perceive park as crowded.

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Whats Been Done So Far?

• Island Explorer bus service implemented in 1999.
• Service now provided on 8 routes from June to
  October.
• Service very successful.
• Approximately4,000 trips per day in summer.

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What More Could Be Done?

• Further expand Island Explorer service.
• Relocate Acadia Visitor Center to new intermodal
  center with free parking and transit.
• Revise Acadia entrance fees to
• Encourage transit use.
• Discourage private vehicle use.
• Limit or prohibit private vehicles from some
  parts of park.

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Bangor - Trenton Transportation Alternatives
Study

• Primary focus was to examine new transit services
  between Bangor and Mount Desert Island (MDI).
• However, potential Acadia changes would impact
  demand for Bangor - MDI service.
• Therefore, potential Acadia changes were examined
  as part of Bangor - Trenton study.

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Approach
To address three major issues as required for the
Bangor - Trenton Study and to guide subsequent
efforts
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Changes Examined
The study examined three types of potential
changes, and combinations of those changes
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Expanded Transit

• New Acadia National Park Visitor/Transit Center
  in Trenton.
• Expanded Island Explorer service
• 10 routes
• Direct service to most major Mount Desert Island
  attractions
• More frequent service
• New Bangor - Bar Harbor service

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Greatly Expanded Transit

• New Acadia National Park Visitor/Transit Center
  in Trenton.
• Greatly expanded Island Explorer service
• 12 routes
• Direct service to nearly all major Mount Desert
  Island attractions
• Much more frequent service
• New Bangor - Bar Harbor service.

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Service Comparison
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Entrance Fee Changes
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Vehicle Restrictions

• Limit number of private vehicles on Cadillac
  Mountain and Park Loop Road to parking
  availability.
• Prohibit private vehicles from Cadillac Mountain
  and Park Loop Road.

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Packages of Changes
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Methodology

• Stated-preference survey
• 30 different versions of surveys presented
  different combinations of changes.
• Each version presented two park policy scenarios.
• Surveys distributed at four locations in park.
• Discrete-choice analysis of 1,530 usable
  responses.
• Revealed preference used to anchor the results.

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Summary of Results

• Examined measures would have significant impacts
  on transit ridership, vehicle trips, and park
  visitation levels.

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Impacts of Transit Improvements

• Further expansion of transit would increase both
  transit use and park visitation, and reduce
  traffic.

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Impacts of Entrance Fee Changes

• Vehicle surcharges would increase transit use and
  decrease traffic, but reduce visitation levels.

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Impacts of Vehicle Restrictions

• Vehicle restrictions would increase transit use
  and decrease traffic but reduce visitation.

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Impacts of Expanded Transit plus Fee Changes

• Expanded transit coupled with fee increases would
  eliminate most negative impacts on visitation
  levels.

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Impacts of Expanded Transit, Fee Changes
Vehicle Restrictions

• Limits on vehicle volumes would generally have
  more positive impacts than prohibitions.

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Summary of Findings

• Expansion of transit service would increase
  transit ridership, reduce traffic, and attract
  additional visitors.
• Increases in park entrance fees would have only
  small negative impacts on visitor levels.
• Entrance fee increases coupled with expanded
  transit would avoid or minimize negative impacts
  on visitor levels.
• Changes to the Acadia entrance fee structure
  particularly vehicle surchargescould produce
  significant shifts from private vehicles to
  transit.

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Conclusions

• Transit improvements and fee changes could
  effectively address Acadias congestion-related
  problems.
• Additional transit improvements would result in
  large increases in transit ridership.
• Higher entrance fees for improved transit would
  have only very small impacts on park visitation.
• Vehicle surcharges would effectively encourage
  visitors to shift from private vehicles to
  transit.