1. Using TREDIS with travel forecasting models

TREDIS is designed to evaluate the economic impacts of projects and policies affecting multiple modes of travel, which may involve changes in travel times, distances, volumes and/or access times. It recognizes that totally new facilities may serve latent demand and improve access times even when there is no existing base of users. The measurement of these various benefits can differ by mode. Accordingly, TREDIS can be used with either sketch planning methods or formal network models representing road, air, sea and rail systems. TREDIS has been used with data from a variety of travel models including EMM2 (in Portland and Vancouver), TRANUS (in Oregon), TRIPS (in Maine) and TransCAD (in Chicago). It can also be used with other travel demand and forecasting systems including TranPlan, Cube Voyager and HERS. Agencies without a transportation analysis system can also use TREDIS via its sketch planning interface.

2. Using TREDIS with economic models and planning systems

TREDIS calculates both user benefits and broader economic development impacts at both local and state or regional levels of geography. It is offered to users with a default economic module or the choice of a user-selected option that can utilize other existing economic model tools. It has been used with REMI Policy Insight (by Maine DOT and Wisconsin DOT), with CRIO-IMPLAN (in California, Oregon and Illinois) and with Canadian economic models (in British Columbia and Alberta). It is also designed for use with REDYN, R/ECON and the Global Insight model. In addition, TREDIS can be used part as an enhancement element of statewide planning and cost-benefit tools including HEAT from Cambridge Systematics, BEST from Wilbur Smith Associates and NET_BC from Bernardin Lochmueller Associates.

3. Using TREDIS for environmental impact reports and corridor studies

TREDIS is ideal for evaluating the user benefits and broader economic development impacts of individual highway, railroad, airport or marine port projects. It captures a broader set of benefits by recognizing how even a single mode project such as a new road can also affect access times to labor markets, truck delivery markets, and access to airport, rail terminal or other modal facilities. The system was used for the EIS of California's proposed High Speed Train and the LEAP-Trans module was used for PennDOT's study of options for the Continental One highway corridor. It is also being used for the Ontario MTO's Niagara Gateway highway corridor study.

4. Using TREDIS for state and regional transportation system plans

TREDIS can be used with transportation models to assess the economic benefits and cost-benefit implications of alternative scenarios for multi-modal long-range transportation plans. Important features include tracking of modal shifts and the ability to incorporate induced travel into the calculation of benefits. At the state level, it has been used to evaluate options for Maine DOT's Multi-modal Long-Range Plan and Oregon's Statewide Highway Plan. At the regional level, it has been used to assess the benefits of increasing capital investment to reduce urban congestion and improve freight flow as part of the Chicago Metropolis 2020 Regional Plan, Portland Metro's Regional Transportation Plan and Vancouver (BC)'s Major Commercial Transportation System. TREDIS has also been used to assess the benefits of reducing rural isolation by completing the Appalachian Development Highway System.

5. Using TREDIS for passenger rail and transit planning

TREDIS makes it possible to distinguish peak and off-peak travel impacts on both travel patterns and workforce access associated with alternative forms of passenger transport. This includes high speed trains, regular passenger trains, commuter rail, urban light rail and heavy rail system extensions, as well as bus services. Its use for intercity high speed trains includes proposals for California High Speed Trains and the Edmonton-Calgary High Speed Train, and work is underway for its use to examine proposals for a Georgia-Tennessee High Speed Train. TREDIS has also been used for to assess the economic benefits of urban transit options including both Chicago's METRA commuter rail lines and broader plans for Chicago's RTA, as well as bus and light rail transit as part of the Portland Metro regional plan.

6. Using TREDIS for freight planning

TREDIS provides a platform for sophisticated freight planning and analysis. It can incorporate and utilize detailed information on commodity flow patterns (including Global Insight Transearch data), and it can separately account for costs and benefits for carriers and shippers. In this way, the model can capture interactions between industrial productivity, freight mobility and supply chain restructuring. TREDIS was used for freight studies ranging from the Chicago Freight Plan to a short-line rail study in Wisconsin. It was also used to assess impacts of changes in air and marine freight gateway access in Vancouver (BC).

7. Using TREDIS for airport and marine port planning

TREDIS includes business attraction and user benefit modules that are sensitive to changes in airport and marine port activity levels, service areas and terminal access patterns. In this way, the system can assess economic benefits and economic development impacts of changes in air and marine passenger and freight services. To date, these features have been used as part of multimodal regional studies. However, TREDIS can also be used for separate studies of airport and marine port projects.