The Urban Future of Work
January 3, 2012|SPUR
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High unemployment rates and slow employment growth continue to threaten our economy. Once-successful sectors are in decline. Even the workplace itself is in transition. New technologies and ways of working have disrupted everything from the speed of a typical product cycle to the amount of real estate a company needs.
10 Strategies For Attracting Investment Near Transit
October 31, 2011
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Background
Over the next 25 years, the San Francisco Bay Area is projected to grow by an estimated 22 percent—adding around 1.6 million new residents. Land use and development professionals are engaged in a dialogue around how the region can accommodate this growth in a way that maintains the extraordinary quality-of-life that attracts people to live and work in the region. With an eye toward demographic shifts like an aging population and an increasing number of smaller and non-family households, planners and developers recognize the growing demand for homes and jobs in walkable, urban environments.
High land and housing costs in the core areas of the region, however, create continued development pressure in the outskirts of the region, leading to commute-times and household transportation costs that are among the highest in the nation. The high cost of housing and transportation is particularly felt by the region’s moderate- and lower-income families, who in some cities spend as…
Building Support for Transit-Oriented Development: Do Community-Engagement Toolkits Work?
July 8, 2011|University of California Transportation Center UCTC Research Paper No. 885
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Many metropolitan areas are struggling with how to accommodate future population growth—and are looking to transit-oriented development (TOD) as a potential solution. TODs, in which densely-built, mixedincome housing is placed near transit to create walkable neighborhoods complete with amenities and retail, could house as many as a quarter of the country’s new households in coming years.1 Yet one barrier to building a significant amount of TOD housing is the unwillingness of many local residents to support some of the components of TOD, particularly higher-density construction and mixed-income housing. Often called NIMBYs (short for Not-In-My-Backyard), opposing residents can stop such developments in their tracks.
From Buses to BRT: Case Studies of Incremental BRT Projects in North America
June 1, 2010|Mineta Transportation Institute
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Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) uses different combinations of techniques to improve service, such as bus-only lanes and roads, pre-boarding fare collection, transit priority at traffic signals, stylish vehicles with extra doors, bus stops that are more like light rail stations, and high frequency service. This study examines five approaches to BRT systems as implemented by public transit agencies in California, Oregon, and Ontario.
Choosing Where We Live: Attracting Residents to Transit-Oriented Neighborhoods in the San Francisco Bay Area
April 4, 2010|Metropolitan Transportation Commission
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This briefing book summarizes the results of a yearlong study that examined what attracts home-seekers to transit-oriented development (TOD) in the San Francisco Bay Area, and how to improve TODs to better attract these groups.
EasyConnect II: Integrating Transportation, Information, and Energy Technologies at the Pleasant Hill BART Transit Oriented Development
January 1, 2010|California Department of Transportation
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Smart growth policy strategies attempt to control increasing auto travel, congestion, and vehicle emissions by redirecting new development into communities with a high-intensity mix of shopping, jobs, and housing that is served by high-quality modal alternatives to single occupant vehicles. The integration of innovative technologies with traditional modal options in transit-oriented developments (TODs) may be the key to providing the kind of high-quality transit service that can effectively compete with the automobile in suburban transit corridors. A major challenge, however, of such an integration strategy is the facilitation of a well-designed and seamless multi-modal connection infrastructure – both informational and physical. EasyConnect II explored the introduction and integration of multi-modal transportation services, both traditional and innovative technologies, at the Pleasant Hill Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) District station during the initial construction phase of the…
BART Transit-Oriented Development Program
October 15, 2009|BART
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PowerPoint slideshow summarizing the Bay Area Rapid Transit property development plans as of Oct. 15, 2009
Extended Meter Hours Study
October 13, 2009|San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
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Executive Summary
The SFMTA currently manages approximately 24,000 on-street metered parking spaces, most of which are operated from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. The SFMTA uses parking pricing and time limits to:
Achieve desirable levels of parking availability
Reduce congestion and illegal parking
Improve Muni’s speed and reliability
Increase overall safety for all road users
Increase economic vitality
In May 2009, the SFMTA initiated a study to refine an April 2009 proposal to extend the hours of meter operation to 10 p.m. citywide Mondays through Saturdays, and to operate parking meters from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays. The study was intended to better match when and where meter hours are extended with when and where parking is difficult to find in commercial areas. This study includes a survey of other jurisdictions’ practices, a review of previous reports on parking in the City, and the collection of new data on parking occupancy levels, business hours of…
Preserving Affordability and Access in Livable Communities: Subsidized Housing Opportunities Near Transit and the 50+ Population
September 30, 2009
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Executive Summary
INTRODUCTION
A livable community has affordable and appropriate housing, supportive features and services, and adequate mobility options for people, regardless of age or ability. As communities address the general shortage of affordable housing, preserving affordable housing in transit-oriented developments (TODs) is one of the challenges that communities can address to increase their livability.
TODs are compact, walkable, mixed-use communities that are developed around high-quality public transportation. Residents often prize these places for the advantages created by the proximity to transportation and other amenities. One consequence of this desirability is that it can increase land and property values, exacerbating housing affordability challenges.
As policymakers try to extend the benefits of TODs to affordable housing locations, they must ensure that those benefits are available to people of low and moderate incomes and to those with different mobility…
Mapping Susceptibility to Gentrification: The Early Warning Toolkit
August 1, 2009|University of California, Berkeley, Center for Community Innovation
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The Bay Area is one of the most expensive and challenging housing markets in the country.1 On average, local households spend 48% of their income on housing, compared to 29% for the country as a whole, and just 12% can afford the median priced home.2 A quarter of Bay Area renters meet HUD’s definition of severely housing burdened, dedicating more than 50 percent of their income to housing.3
Anticipated growth will place even more pressure on the region’s housing market. The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) projects an additional 1.9 million people and 1.6 million jobs by 2035.4 Meanwhile, new funding for transit approved by Bay Area voters will add 100 new stations, many in already built-up areas, to the region’s existing 300 rapid transit stations and transit corridors.5
Although the planned new transit facilities will help to accommodate much of the population growth, they also present a challenge. Researchers generally agree that new transit investment will…
