If communities hoping to build a fixed-guideway transit project want federal funding, they must first go through the federal New Starts process. This is no easy task, but now the New Starts Working Group has developed a handbook for accomplishing this.

In this New York Times article on transit-oriented development, Reconnecting America CEO Shelley Poticha talks about how development near stations may be the brightest spot in a generally gloomy real estate market. “These are the places that will be creating and holding value,” Ms. Poticha tells the reporter, noting that the most successful projects do more than just build housing but are also designed to create livable neighborhoods with parks, paths, retail stores and gathering places. Says Ms. Poticha, “Place-making is key.”

The December 2008 report by the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission analyzing transit-served areas in the Delaware Valley has been added to the Best Practices section. The report analyzes areas within a half-mile of rail transit stops. The majority of the data in this report comes from Reconnecting America and the Center for Transit-Oriented Development.

With California facing an unprecedented budget crisis, eleven California urban planners, architects, engineers, public officials, developers, retail managers and a journalist are convening a seminar on the challenges of making towns and cities in the new realities of fiscal chaos, energy constraints and climate change. Instead of flying to Denver, this group of California New Urbanists has chartered two private railcars from California Zephyr Rail Charters, Inc. that will be pulled by Amtrak’s regular Zephyr train. The California New Urbanists are committing the time needed for a structured, deep conversation among accomplished professionals. They are also practicing what they preach: train travel is 21 percent more efficient than automobile travel, and 17 percent more efficient than airline travel.

hifting from a highway-centered federal transportation focus to one centered around transit is explored in a U.S.PIRG document. The specific greenhouse gas savings from using transit is explored in another document. Finally, the national numbers behind greenhouse gases are explored in a FTA presentation.

The profits of investing in properties near transit and the effect of housing near transit on vehicle trips are explored in a pair of documents added to the Best Practices.