RTA documents also suggest that the Plan supports energy efficiency goals. But the numbers provided are very misleading. National data indicates that the car has become as energy efficient as all forms of transit except commuter trains. As transit service has been extended to more daily hours and suburban destinations, lower average passenger loads and more deadheading have progressively reduced energy efficiency. Click here for the misleading view of energy consumption provided by the RTA staff.
Sprawl is somewhat easier to address.
The fact is that the number of people and the number of auto trips affected by any new regional high capacity system will be very small in comparison to the total population and trips. The vast majority of residence location decisions have been and will be made independent of high capacity transit routes and stations, and will only be circumscribed by local zoning. RTA documents provide no data as to the Plan's impact on land use and vice versa. The only published prediction of the impact of growth management policies on travel was made by the Regional Transit Project, the RTA's immediate predecessor. Another clue that land use alone has very little effect on travel is provided by a major study just completed in suburban Portland.