TransitRenewal 2012-2017
March 26, 2012
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Introduction
The 2011-2012 Sacramento Regional Transit Comprehensive Operational Analysis, commonly known as “TransitRenewal”, includes a review of existing market conditions and transit service and aims to position the RT network to sustainably meet future transit demand within the service area. Sustainability is the method of using a resource without depleting or damaging it for future use. Sustainable transit planning focuses on meeting transit needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet such needs1. TransitRenewal responds to changing economic circumstances and RT’s new financial realities. In 2010, RT implemented substantial service reductions which included discontinuing several bus routes, reducing service levels, and reducing spans. TransitRenewal responds to RT’s plan to regain previous FY 2010 service levels and intends to identify core areas of the RT system where investment will have a maximum benefit, and will guide RT to…
Federal Barriers to Local Housing and Transportation Coordination
August 25, 2011
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This report includes a synopsis of the history of barriers to local coordination of housing and transportation resulting from HUD and DOT statutes and regulations, a summary of efforts to date to identify barriers within each agency’s programs, and a description of efforts underway to address these
barriers. We conclude the report with a list of provisions in HUD and DOT statutes and regulations, grouped into four categories. These categories correspond to key areas where improved coordination would better support local strategies to plan and implement sustainable communities:
barriers. We conclude the report with a list of provisions in HUD and DOT statutes and regulations, grouped into four categories. These categories correspond to key areas where improved coordination would better support local strategies to plan and implement sustainable communities:
Reinvesting in Pittsburgh's Neighborhoods: The Case for Transit-Oriented Development
June 9, 2011
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Introduction
As more and more cities join the transit space race and see the benefits of walkability, places like Pittsburgh – which already have well established systems and walkable street patterns– need to revisit and reinforce their existing transit networks in order to stay competitive. Long thought of as a planning concept for managing growth in fast growing regions, transit-oriented development actually has great applicability when it comes to reinforcing the neighborhoods that make mature cities great. We have the opportunity to reinforce and invest in our transit network in a way that captures higher ridership, generates lasting value for our neighborhoods, enhances the economic strength of our job centers, provides enduring benefits for all of our residents, from young working families to retirees.
This report comes at a time when our region is at an ironic crossroads. The time has never been better to think about how we can improve the integration of our transit system…
Revisiting Factors Associated with the Success of Ballot Initiatives with a Substantial Rail Transit Component
June 1, 2011|Mineta Transportation Institute
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Executive Summary
This report presents the replication of an MTI study conducted in 2001 by Peter Haas and Richard Werbel.1 That research, itself a continuation of an earlier project completed in 2000,2 included an analysis of transportation tax elections in 11 urban areas across the nation and culminated in the identification of 17 community-level factors with potential impact on the success of ballot measures for sales tax increases to fund transportation packages with substantial rail components. Many of the 17 factors identified in the research were moderately to strongly associated with electoral success and failure of transit tax initiatives. Among the key findings from the original (2001) report were:
Passing transit initiatives in communities featuring transit agencies of questionable reputations, in those fielding credible opposition, or those lacking a traffic congestion “crisis” is extremely difficult;
Achieving consensus support from business community leaders, elected…
GIS Analysis of Population and Employment Centers in Metro Denver Served by RTD’s FasTracks
December 8, 2010
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Abstract
The Denver regional transit provider, RTD is involved in one of the most ambitious passenger rail expansion projects in the country. Known as FasTracks, the project will add 122 miles of rail and 18 miles of BRT to Metro Denver. Given the scrutiny RTD has faced over budget shortfalls and the likelihood of raising taxes to complete the project on time, this paper used a GIS analysis to determine just how well Metro Denver residents and employees would be served by FasTracks. GIS was also used to determine which corridors and stations would serve the most people, and which high density areas will not be served by FasTracks. Using population data from transportation analysis zones and half mile and one mile buffers around each station, it was found that 30% of residents and 69% of employees within Metro Denver will be within one mile of a FasTracks station, while only 9% of land area falls within a mile of a station. These results indicate that FasTracks will serve residents…
Financing Transit Systems Through Value Capture: An Annotated Bibliography
November 28, 2010|Victoria Transport Policy Institute
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This paper summarizes the findings of more than 100 studies concerning the impacts transit service has on nearby property values, and the feasibility of capturing a portion of the incremental value to finance transit improvements. The results indicate that proximity to transit often increases property values enough to offset some or all of transit system capital costs.
CDFIs And Transit-Oriented Development
October 28, 2010|Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Community Development Investment Center
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In October 2010, the Center for Transit-Oriented Development published a report exploring the role community development finance institutions could play in promoting equitable transit-oriented development. This document is an initial effort to frame the context of TOD and equity, and to encourage a more robust discourse on the connection between the agendas of CDFIs and TOD.
Below is the Executive Summary from the report
Below is the Executive Summary from the report
Well Within Reach: America’s New Transportation Agenda
October 25, 2010|David R. Goode National Transportation Policy Conference
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Executive Summary
Transportation systems are the backbone of America: They keep our nation strong and moving. But we have not been taking good care of this resource. Lacking a coherent vision for our transportation future and chronically short of resources, we defer new investments, fail to plan, and allow existing systems to fall into disrepair.
This shortsightedness and underinvestment—at the planning level and on our nation’s roads, rails, airports and waterways—costs the country dearly. It compromises our productivity and ability to compete internationally; transportation users pay for the system’s inefficiencies in lost time, money and safety. Rural areas are cut off from economic opportunities and even urbanites suffer from inadequate public transportation options. Meanwhile, transportation-related pollution exacts a heavy toll on our environment and public health.
Stakeholders in the transportation community have recognized these costs. It is time to rethink existing…
Public Transportation: Federal Role in Value Capture Strategies for Transit Is Limited, but Additional Guidance Could Help Clarify Policies
July 4, 2010|General Accounting Office
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What GAO Found
More than half of the transit agencies from which GAO collected data (32 of 55) reported that joint development—in which a transit agency and a private entity partner to create development at a transit station—has been used as a source of funding for transit, while about a third (19 of 55) reported that special assessment districts, tax increment financing, and development impact fees have been used. Transit agencies that have extensively used joint development typically share characteristics, such as having formal joint development policies and in-house real estate expertise. Financial data collected from several transit agencies indicate that revenue generated annually through joint development is generally small when compared with an agency’s annual operating expenses. Revenue generated by the other three value capture strategies has varied, but in some cases has been critical to the financial feasibility of the transit project or to improvements that support…
Making Public Transport Financially Sustainable
July 1, 2010
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Abstract
Over the past two decades, Germany has improved the quality of its public transport services and attracted more passengers while increasing productivity, reducing costs, and cutting subsidies. Public transport systems reduced their costs through organizational restructuring and outsourcing to newly founded subsidiaries; cutting employee benefits and freezing salaries; increasing work hours, using part-time employees, expanding job tasks, and encouraging retirement of older employees; cooperation with other agencies to share employees, vehicles, and facilities; cutting underutilized routes and services; and buying new vehicles with lower maintenance costs and greater passenger capacity per driver. Revenues were increased through fare hikes for single tickets while maintaining deep discounts for monthly, semester, and annual tickets; and raising passenger volumes by improved quality of service, and full regional coordination of timetables, fares, and services. Those efforts by…
