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.
Urban Growth and Decline: The Role of Population Density at the City Core
December 21, 2011|Economic Commentary, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
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In recent decades, some cities have seen their urban centers lose population density, as residents spread farther out to suburbs and exurbs. Others have kept populous downtowns even as their environs have grown. Population density in general has economic advantages, so one might wonder whether a loss of density, which may be a symptom of negative economic shocks, could amplify those shocks. This paper looks at four decades of census data and show that growing cities have maintained dense urban centers, while shrinking cities have not. There are reasons to think that loss of population density at the core of the city could be particularly damaging to productivity. If this is the case, there could be productivity gains from policies aimed at reversing that trend.
Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) and Employment
May 11, 2011|Center for Transit-Oriented Development
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Executive Summary
Historically, many regional transit systems were designed in a “hub and spoke” pattern, focusing on moving residents from relatively low-density residential communities to a single high-density employment center – typically the region’s historic central business district (CBD). In general, these systems have worked well for those workers with jobs in central cities. The effectiveness of this kind of system hinges directly on the density of the jobs co-located in close proximity to each other and within a short distance of transit stations.
Although CBDs and downtowns remain important regional employment locations, American cities have experienced significant decentralization over the last 60 years, as job centers have shifted from urban downtowns to suburban communities. This “employment sprawl” has helped to generate much of the traffic congestion experienced across regions today, contributing to over 100 billion dollars in lost time and fuel every…
Walking to the station: The effects of street connectivity on walkability and access to transit
December 25, 2010|Georgia Institute of Technology
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Summary
This thesis analyzes an on-board transit survey conducted by the Atlanta Regional Commission in order to determine how far urban density, mixed land-uses, and street network connectivity are related to different walking behaviors, namely transit walk-mode shares and walking distances to/from stations. The data are drawn from all the stations of Atlanta’s rapid transit network (MARTA).
Allowing for quite a bit of noise in the data, some of the findings confirm for the case of Atlanta what a review of existing literature would lead one to expect: mixed land-use and denser street networks are associated with higher proportion of riders traveling to/from the station “walking” (noise in the data does not allow to fully distinguish with certainty walking as the sole mode of access to/from the station from walking combined with the use of bus services).
The thesis also explores questions that have not been previously covered systematically in the literature. First, does urban…
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…
Traffic Generated by Mixed-Use Developments – A Six- Region Study Using Consistent Built Environmental Measures
January 1, 2009|EPA Development, Community and Environment Division
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The purpose of this study was to develop new methodology for more accurately predicting the traffic impacts of mixed-use developments
The Relationship between Transit Ridership and Urban Decentralisation: Insights from Atlanta
May 30, 2008
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Abstract
Conventional wisdom suggests that the increasing decentralisation of population and employment in US metropolitan areas is to blame for declining public transit mode shares and deteriorating system productivity. Proponents of this view assert that transit performs best when it connects suburbs to central business districts in more centralised urban environments. Our time-series analysis of transit patronage in Atlanta suggests that the previously reported secular decline in transit patronage is attributable to employment decentralisation outside the MARTA service area but that this can be reduced if the transit system makes decentralising employment reachable.
Large Scale Redevelopment Initiatives, Housing Values, and Gentrification: The Case of the Atlanta Beltline
January 1, 2008|Georgia Institute of Technology
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This paper examines the impacts on residential property values of municipal-led planning for a large-scale, multi-use land development project called the Atlanta Beltline, which involves the production, over a 25 year period, of a wide array of greenspace, light rail transit, and related privately-owned real estate developments. The paper considers the impacts on homes within the target development area as well as in nearby locations, with a particular emphasis on the portion of the Beltline adjacent to substantial low-income populations.
TOD Case Studies: Implementation In Low- Income, Ethnically Diverse Neighborhoods
August 19, 2007|Philadelphia Neighborhood Development Collaborative and the Surdna Foundation
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These case studies, funded through the support of the Surdna Foundation, present transit-oriented development (TOD) examples from diverse, low-income neighborhoods around transit, all built within the last 10 years. The goal of this survey is to provide examples that can help spur development around Philadelphia’s underutilized transit resources in similar types of neighborhoods. To that end, the examples in these case studies all overcame barriers to implementation using innovative, but replicable approaches. These examples are intended to allow the Philadelphia Neighborhood Development Collaborative and others to advocate for more involvement by the public sector, test some of the same mechanisms for financing and land assembly, and provide examples of successful TOD to developers and community members.
North Line Transit Oriented Development Study
December 24, 2006
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Executive Summary
There is growing concern in the metropolitan Atlanta region about increasing traffic congestion, long commutes, air quality, fuel prices, and greenspace/open space depletion. Transit oriented development (TOD) patterns and major investments in transit are viewed as ways to combat or alleviate these problems. TOD refers to development activity located along or within walking distance to transit routes or stations that mixes residential, retail, office, and public uses in a walkable environment, making it convenient for residents and employees to travel by transit, bicycle or foot.
North Fulton County is one of the fastest growing sub-regions in the Atlanta region. The North Line study area has experienced a dramatic increase in growth in the past decade with the extension of GA 400 from I-285 to I-85. The GA 400 corridor, in North Fulton County, has become a regional center for population and employment growth. The study area formerly functioned as a bedroom…
