Multiple Benefits TDM can help provide a variety of benefits in addition to congestion reduction and facility cost savings, including consumer savings, improved travel choice, increased safety, environmental quality, community livability, efficient land use, and equity objectives. Expanding road and parking capacity can exacerbate other transportation problems. Transportation Demand Management avoids these problems. As a result, there are good reasons to favor TDM solutions, even if they are not the most cost effective strategy for achieving a single objective such as congestion reductions. Theoretical Justifications Current transportation systems are often inefficient because they violate basic Market Principles .
Consumers often have few viable transportation options.
Prices do not reflect full marginal costs. Planning practices are often biased. TDM can help correct these distortions. Many people are skeptical. The answer is that current market distortions encourage inefficient travel behavior.