Travel demand management (TDM) describes the strategies and policies aiming to achieve more efficient use of transportation resources and to reduce travel demand by giving priority to public transit, car-sharing, car-pooling, etc. It puts focus on the movement of people and goods, rather than on motor vehicles.
There are many different strategies with a variety of transportation impacts:
- improvement transportation options available to consumers
- changes in trip scheduling, route, destination or mode
- reduction in the need for physical travel through more efficient land use or transportation substitutes.
Travel demand management is an increasingly common response to transport problems. Although most individual TDM strategies only affect a small portion of total travel, the cumulative impacts of a comprehensive TDM program can be significant with respect to the environment, public health, communities and life in the cities.