More Development For Your Transit Dollar: An Analysis of 21 North American Transit Corridors
September 24, 2013|Institute for Transportation & Development Policy
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Executive Summary
In the wake of the 2008 economic downturn, Cleveland, Ohio, along with other former industrial US cites, faced severe financial difficulties. While a tough regional economy and shrinking population forced many of the surrounding cities to cut public services and reduce jobs in the public and private sectors, Cleveland managed to transform a modest $50 million investment in bus rapid transit into $5.8 billion in new transit-oriented development. By putting bus rapid transit (BRT) along a strategic corridor and concentrating government redevelopment efforts there, Cleveland managed to leverage $114.54 dollars of new transit-oriented investment for every dollar it invested into the BRT system, adding jobs and revitalizing the city center.
A growing number of American cities are promoting transit-oriented development1 (TOD) in order to combat congestion and other problems associated with sprawling, car-dominated suburban growth. Many are planning rail-based mass transit…
Cityscape: A Journal Of Policy Development and Research
August 21, 2013
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Symposium Organization and Content
The symposium in this issue of Cityscape is organized in four topical sections: (1) the expectations and achievements of mixing policies; (2) the realities of implementation; (3) an examination of moving to and living in subsidized private-market rental housing; and (4) a synthesizing examination of these policies based on the articles and suggestions for future initiatives. For the initial three sections, a series of commentaries from housing policy experts follows the articles.
In the first section, Diane K. Levy, Zach McDade, and Kassie Bertumen set the stage for the subsequent articles by reviewing the varying ways in which mixed-income living has been defined, evidence of benefits to adults and children, and the viability of mixed-income housing over time. They conclude with a discussion of research findings on which consensus and divergences exist, and identify gaps in what we know about the effect of mixed-income developments and…
Transit-Oriented Communities: A Primer On Key Concepts
August 13, 2013
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Introduction
Creating communities that are more “ transit-oriented” is one of the key goals of most land use and transportation plans in Metro Vancouver. Transit-oriented communities are not only more livable, sustainable, resilient and economically thriving, they also support higher levels of walking, cycling and transit and result in lower levels of automobile use and greenhouse gas emissions.
In response to requests from local government partners, TransLink has prepared this primer to highlight the key attributes of community design that most strongly influence travel behaviour. This is not an official policy document but is rather an effort to share current thinking on how community design can best support walking, cycling, and transit.
What are Transit-Oriented Communities?
Transit-Oriented Communities (TOCs) are places that, by their design, allow people to drive less and walk, cycle, and take transit more. In practice, this means concentrating higher-density, mixed-use,…
Role of Transit Service Providers in Land Development
July 26, 2013|Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering at the University of Alabama
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Executive Summary
Livability and sustainability have been identified as top priorities by three government agencies, including the Department of Transportation, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Environmental Protection Agency. In this inter-agency coordinated effort, transit systems are recognized as a bridge between urban development and transportation development that plays a key role towards achieving the livability and sustainability goal. While various transit development initiatives, such as integrated transit and land development and transit-oriented development, have been proposed in the past, many transit agencies in the United States are experiencing declining ridership and increasing dependence on government subsidies for operating costs. Compared to the US, several foreign counties have been very successful in transit development. One particular strategy is to encourage (and subsidize) transit service providers to compete and invest in land…
A Station Area Typology of Economic Opportunity: A Guide to Better Connecting Transit, Jobs and Workforce Development in the Denver Region
June 25, 2013
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Introduction
Most of the emphasis to date on TOD has been around residential development – building compact, mixed-use, mixed-income housing near transit, with shops and services nearby and a variety of transportation choices. Yet economic and workforce development are just as important to incorporate into transit-oriented communities. People who can take transit to work often spend less on transportation costs, saving them money to spend on other things. Employers also benefit by locating near transit in a variety of ways, from gaining access to a larger labor pool, saving money on things like parking and health care and greater convenience to clients and customers. Workforce training providers that locate near transit give potential workers greater access to their services and also lower the cost of taking such training courses in order to find a job. This is especially important for low- to middle-skill workers, who often need training beyond high school to get a good paying…
Quantifying Transit-Oriented Development's Potential Contribution To Federal Policy Objectives On Transportation-Housing-Energy Interactions
June 6, 2013|Center for Transportation and Livable Systems
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Executive Summary
The LRT system in Denver, Colorado, connects the downtown with neighborhoods to the North, but primarily stretches southwards, travelling in existing transportation corridors carrying freeways and a heavy rail system. Outside of the downtown areas, the siting of the LRT system alongside the rigid infrastructure that comprises the heavy rail system and the freeway systems severely inhibits pedestrian accessibility to the transit system. To help further understand how the level of accessibility varies across the system, a systematic pedestrian level-of-service index for each station within the system was created that takes into account the formal, as well as informal street networks. This inaccessibility is highly likely to limit the potential that this system may have to generate development near station located that is fully integrated with the LRT system.
Primary data collected by surveying households across the metropolitan area revealed very little difference…
Los Angeles Department of City Planning Summary of Policy Planning Initiatives Related to Transit Corridors Cabinet
June 1, 2013|Los Angeles Department of City Planning
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This paper documents all the Los Angeles Station Area planning programs and projects that are currently happening.
Linking urban Transport And Land Use In Developing Countries
May 3, 2013
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Abstract
The mobility challenges of the developing world are considerably different than those in wealthier, advanced countries, and so are the challenges of coordinating transportation and land use. Rapid population growth, poverty and income disparities, overcrowded urban cores, poorly designed road networks, spatial mismatches between housing and jobs, deteriorating environmental conditions, and economic losses from extreme traffic by congestion are among the more vexing challenges faced by developing cities that could be assuaged through improved coordination of transportation and urban development. This is underscored by examples reviewed in this paper from South Asia, Southeast Asia, China, India, Africa, and South America. It is concluded that whatever is done to improve transportation and land-use integration must be pro-poor. The cardinal features of integrated and sustainable transport and urbanism everywhere—accessible urban activities and safe, attractive walking and…
