Downtowns, Greenfields and Places In Between: Promoting Development Near Transit
May 29, 2013
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Introduction
Transit-oriented development (TOD) – typically defined as compact, mixed-use development within walking distance of a transit station – has emerged in recent years as a key strategy for fostering quality neighborhoods and reducing auto dependence. Despite the emphasis on TOD in many policy discussions, however, only limited information is available to help communities understand the likely development impacts of new transit investments. This report builds on a 2010 study by the Center for Transit-Oriented Development (CTOD), Rails to Real Estate: Development Patterns along Three Recently Constructed Rail Lines, to examine the opportunities and challenges involved in promoting TOD in different types of neighborhoods, and the strategies that may be appropriate to catalyze TOD depending on the neighborhood context. By examining development patterns and public investment strategies through the lens of “development context” or “neighborhood type,” this report…
The Tramway Revival In France
April 5, 2013
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Currently, eighteen French urban areas have at least one tramway line and by 2014, nine more towns will have opened their first lines. In France, the organisation of public transport is based on a decentralised administrative system established in the 1980s. For thirty years, land authorities have had great autonomy to develop their public transport networks in a context of very heavy car use. Today, the car is gradually making way for public transport systems and tramways have been experiencing a revival for several years now. Tramways have been making their mark over the years because they fit into the scheme of urban renewal, transport planning and environmental concerns. This is a political choice which is firmly rooted in the sustainable development ethos and enables planners to take a new approach to urban mobility and urbanisation projects. Trams have also become a tool for promoting a town, because building a tramway implies a desire to renew the image of the town where it is…
Designing New Light Rail: Taking Engineering Beyond Vanilla
August 16, 2012
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As light rail transit (LRT) systems mature and expand, outlying passengers are faced with increasingly longer trip times to reach the urban core. Providing service to these customers by conventional means can be disproportionately expensive for the transit carrier in terms of operating and capital expense. Innovative operational practices to expedite train movements, however, are often confounded by current LRT design and deployment methods. This is partly attributable to design methods that follow a “stovepipe” approach to individual engineering disciplines and components, rather than directing focus on optimizing railway functionality and flexibility as a comprehensive entity. It is also attributable, in part, to a failure to address the ultimate potential of a railway at the definition/developmental stage and to subsequently articulate and document the operational requirements that are necessary to support the stated mission.
Transit Oriented Development that's Healthy, Green & Just: Ensuring Transit Investment in Seattle’s Rainier Valley Builds Communities Where All Families Thrive
May 14, 2012|Puget Sound Sage
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Executive Summary
As the Puget Sound region invests billions in a new light rail system, many stakeholders, including community leaders, workers, equity advocates and planners, are asking – who will benefit? Will the advantages of living along light rail be shared by households of all incomes and people of all races and ethnicities?
Transit oriented development (TOD), holds tremendous promise and opportunity for communities of color and low-income households. But, strong evidence of gentrification and the threat of displacement in Seattle’s Rainier Valley, accelerated by the light rail, threaten to undermine this promise. Rainier Valley represents one of the most racially diverse areas in the Puget Sound and is also one of the first communities to receive light rail.
Ensuring that TOD results in real equity outcomes requires a sharp focus on what equity means and a steady determination to achieve those outcomes. By including a racial justice framework in TOD planning and…
Bus or Rail: An Approach to Explain the Psychological Rail Factor
April 9, 2012|Journal of Public Transportation
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Introduction
It is recognized that hard factors such as travel time, cost, availability of public transport services, and car ownership have a major impact when people consider the choice between using an automobile or public transport. Nevertheless, there is evidence from the literature that rail-based public transport often is considered superior to bus systems, even in cases where quantitative hard factors are equal. This attraction of passengers is known as a psychological rail factor, and it is used to express a higher attraction in terms of higher ridership of rail-based public transport in contrast to bus services (Axhausen et al. 2001; Megel 2001b; Ben-Akiva and Morikawa 2002; Vuchic 2005; Scherer 2010a). The existence of this rail factor is widely accepted among experts, but little evidence exists about the reasons for this phenomena.
The idea of a rail factor is consistent with statements that the image of a transport system has an impact on demand. Furthermore, research…
Guidelines for Providing Access to Public Transportation Stations
March 27, 2012|Transit Cooperative Research Program
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Foreward
TCRP Report 153: Guidelines for Providing Access to Public Transportation Stations provides a process and spreadsheet-based tool for effectively planning for access to high capacity transit stations, including commuter rail, heavy rail, light rail, bus rapid transit (BRT), and ferry. The report is accompanied by a CD that includes the station access planning spreadsheet tool that allows trade-off analyses among the various access modes (automobile, transit, bicycle, pedestrian, and transit-oriented development) for different station types. The potential effectiveness of transit-oriented development opportunities to increase transit ridership is also assessed.
This report and accompanying materials are intended to aid the many groups involved in planning, developing, and improving access to high capacity transit stations, including public transportation and highway agencies, planners, developers, and…
Understanding Transit Ridership Demand for a Multi-Destination, Multimodal Transit Network in an American Metropolitan Area: Lessons for Increasing Choice Ridership While Maintaining Transit Dependent Ridership
January 19, 2012|Mineta Transportation Institute
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Executive Summary
INTRODUCTION
There is a growing body of evidence, including earlier Mineta Transportation Institute-sponsored research, showing that multi-destination transit systems are far more effective in attracting passengers and more efficient in use of resources to carry each passenger than central business district (CBD)-focused systems. At the same time, however, evidence is beginning to show that multi-destination transit systems appeal largely to transit-dependent riders (also called captive riders), whose demand for transit service appears to be highly elastic with respect to the shortening of transit travel time between origin and destination. Given the interest in using transit investments to lure people from their automobiles in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reduce congestion, it is imperative that the appeal of such systems to choice riders (also called discretionary riders) also be understood. However, this issue remains as yet relatively unexplored.
Safe Transit in Shared Use
July 1, 2011|Federal Transit Administration Research
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During the last 30 years, due to the flexibility of light rail transit (LRT), new systems have been implemented, some of which include line segments that share tracks with freight operations regulated by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). To operate on the general railroad system, these LRT systems have obtained waivers from FRA safety regulations by operating with temporal separation. The aim of this research study was to further develop concepts for temporal separation to enable shared use operations in additional locations with more frequent and more flexible operations of FRA-compliant and non-compliant services. Based on the operating concepts and technology that facilitate temporal separation on the NJ TRANSIT River LINE, this project prepared a design for expanding freight and passenger operations while maintaining separation of modes in a configuration that is very similar to designs that have already been accepted by FRA.
Evaluating the Impact of Transit-Oriented Development
April 13, 2011|Texas Department of Transportation
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Transit‐oriented development (TOD) is an increasingly popular urban form. Based on a survey of residents of TOD projects in areas served by Dallas Area Rapid Transit, Fort Worth T, and Capital Metro (Austin) rail transit, moving into TOD decreases VMT by an average of 15 percent, or about 3,500 miles per year, which impacts TxDOT motor fuel tax revenues. The data also indicate that these households shift their choice of route to include more arterial roads versus highways. Differential behavior is observed among the three areas studied with the greatest impact being on the DART system and the Capital Metro system showing smaller
changes in TOD resident travel behaviors. Residents of TOD choose their housing based mostly on commuting distance and lifestyle characteristics, such as proximity to dining and entertainment venues. Proximity to a transit rail station is at least moderately important for 57 percent of respondents. The report recommends that TxDOT look to incorporate…
changes in TOD resident travel behaviors. Residents of TOD choose their housing based mostly on commuting distance and lifestyle characteristics, such as proximity to dining and entertainment venues. Proximity to a transit rail station is at least moderately important for 57 percent of respondents. The report recommends that TxDOT look to incorporate…
Danbury Branch Improvement Program Transit Oriented Development
September 1, 2010|Connecticut Department Of Transportation In Cooperation With South Western Regional Planning Agency
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Abstract
This report presents an evaluation of transit-oriented development (TOD) opportunities within the Danbury Branch study corridor as a component of the Federal Transit Administration Alternatives Analysis/Draft Environmental Impact Statement (FTA AA/DEIS) prepared for the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT).
This report is intended as a tool for municipalities to use as they move forward with their TOD efforts. The report identifies the range of TOD opportunities at station areas within the corridor that could result from improvements to the Danbury Branch. By also providing information regarding FTA guidelines and TOD best practices, this report serves as a reference and a guide for future TOD efforts in the Danbury Branch study corridor.
Specifically, this report presents a definition of TOD and the elements of TOD that are relevant to the Danbury Branch. It also presents a summary of FTA Guidance regarding TOD and includes case studies of FTA-funded projects…
