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This report was prepared for policy makers searching for ways to boost public transit use in U.S. urban areas and wishing to know what can be learned from the experiences of Canada and Western Europe. With few exceptions, public transit has a more prominent role in Canada and Western Europe than in the United States. This is true not only in large cities, but also in many smaller communities and throughout entire metropolitan areas. Transit is used for about 10 percent of urban trips in Western Europe, compared with about 2 percent in the United States. Canadians use public transit about twice as much as Americans, although there is considerable variation across Canada, just as there is in Western Europe and the United States.

The paper reports on the implementation of parking cash-out in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Region in 1999 and 2000. Since parking costs in a downtown setting are typically a substantial portion of commuting costs, cashing-out parking subsidies can provide a strong incentive for commuters to choice an alternative to driving alone.

Abstract Transit-oriented development (TOD) has become the dominant urban growth planning paradigm in the United States. Yet scant evidence has been proffered to indicate that it will produce significant environmental and social benefits commensurate with the costs of the major transportation system improvements that it requires. Sixteen distinct planning issues will determine whether TOD significantly changes travel behavior in a metropolitan region. While some analysis exists, understanding of these issues needs improvement. In particular, more research is needed on non-work travel, retail market dynamics, and the likely constraints this $2.3 trillion area of business and human behavior imposes on TOD. Introduction Over the past two decades numerous metropolitan areas in the United States have embraced the concept of transit-oriented development (TOD) in an attempt to control and manage the negative environmental and social impacts of dispersed growth patterns (Porter 1997). TOD, it…

Looks at performance of city policies that allow developers to pay fees in lieu of providing parking and the benefits in urban form and cost savings

City and county leaders in California are most motivated to push for pedestrian-oriented infrastructure and land uses when there is a clear economic benefit to their communities.2 There are solid connections between walkable environments and economic viability. This brochure highlights some aspects of that nexus.

This Phase II report addresses the connection between transit and streets, recognizing that the design and management of streets and traffic can and does affect the livability of communities. This report presents strategies that are emerging across the United States, where the effective, balanced incorporation of transit into city streets is having a positive impact on livability and quality of life.

This report describes transit’s increasingly important role in improving the livability of communities. Concerns about livability affect every community: inner cities, suburbs, small towns, and rural areas. The report explores a “place-making” approach where a local community, working in partnership with a transit agency, plans and implements neighborhood-scale projects and programs that are mutually supportive of community livability and transit ridership goals.  Part I of this report describes the place-making approach to livability and explores the relationships between transportation and livability that are keys to understanding the case studies. In Chapter 2, the role of transportation in building communities through transit programs, strategies to “calm” traffic in residential and commercial neighborhoods, and a new understanding of the relationship between transportation and land use is explored. Part II of the report—Chapters 3 through 9—presents examples and…

The Transit Friendly Design Guide flows from the Calgary Transportation Plan 1995 and the Sustainable Suburbs Study. It has been developed with the help of community stakeholders to describe how community design and transit service can be mutually supportive. Application of the principles and policies contained in this guide will create an environment that will help make Calgary Transit’s vision a reality.