Why does Transit matter in our cities

The division of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations has issued a recurrent series known as "world urbanization prospects" since 1988. It provided the prospect of populations of cities or urban agglomerations above 300,000 inhabitants. Their recent report showed that the world population is expected to increase by 2 billion in 2050, and nearly 70% of people will live in urban areas.

This trend significantly impacts our future urbanization, especially in areas like sustainable development, human mobility, and international migration. Generally, higher density areas require expanded and upgraded infrastructures, including transit services. Therefore, planning tools such as TOD (Transit Oriented Development) and TDM (Transportation Demand Management) are practical to grow our cities efficiently and sustainably, which leads to economic competitiveness.

What is TOD

TOD is a planning and design strategy to promote a mixed-use development that is compact, walkable, and closely integrated with mass transit. With TOD planning, public transportation merges with clusters of jobs, housing, services, and amenities.

How to leverage TOD

Enhancing accessibility through public transit and nearby land shift is the key to leveraging TOD. Several factors also make a supportive environment for TOD. These factors are as follows:

1. Development Authority (“Who”): They have the power to underwrite the land development cost and use established mechanisms to assist land assemblage or land acquisition. An instrument such as "eminent domain" or public-private partnerships all contribute to a TOD's success.

2. Implementation Tools (“How”): There are practical planning tools to help leverage TOD. They are highlighted into three categories:

Process-related tools: examples like public reviews, community outreach, or fast-track permitting of projects are means to educate the public, gain consensus, and ensure future projects run smoothly.
Financial tool: examples like conventional tax-increment financing or "value capture" are common financial tools for projects. They can help transit project anchor resources to continue the development.
Communication tool: illustrations of TOD-related arrangements or its site and street guidelines are often used to communicate with the public.
Product Tool: each city has its unique context for creating transit prototypes. They are the experiment to test the water in both the market and policy realm.

In Washington DC, for example, WMATA (the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority) was the transit authority that gave resources needed to leverage TOD. They proactively cooperate with the private sector to create a more entrepreneurial approach to land development.

Cases

In 2004, Arlington County used the "bull's eye" concept to target its urban growth along the Rosslyn-Ballston Corridor. The metro stations from right to left are: Rosslyn, Courthouse, Clarendon, Virginia Square, and Ballston-MU. The radius shown on the map is 1/4 mile and about 5 minutes of walking distance. Almost twenty years later, we can see how intense and successful this plan has been: the mix of land uses along this transit corridor has collectively transformed the neighborhoods and ensured their ridership. (p.s. The orange line has operated since 1978.)

In 2020, Montgomery County began to operate a Bus Rapid Transit system to cover neighborhoods outside the metro rail system. The image above shows the current in-service route along the US29/ Columbia pike. The bus stations from left to right are: Silver Spring, Four Corners, Burnt Mill, Tech Road, and Burtonsville, respectively. (The route shown above is the blue route. With the blue route it only takes 30 mins from Burtonsville to Silver Spring. This BRT line also have a “orange route“ that operates less frequent and covers more stops in the neighborhoods.)

I put these two maps here to show the different scales in development between using the metro-rail and BRT system to grow a city. A fairer perspective would be to compare the current Rosslyn-Ballston corridor development outcome to this BRT line (US 29) development outcome twenty years from now (2040). Perhaps you can revisit this location in 10-15 years to see how this BRT system impacts its surrounding area. By the time we revisit this map, the world population has expected to increase almost two billion, and more than half of the population has moved to cities. Hopefully, at then, the overall earth temperature has still been managed within 2 degrees Celsius.

What is TDM

On the other hand, TDM combines programs, service policies, and subsidies to help people make transportation decisions by leveraging existing infrastructure. This management encourages multimodal travel to reduce energy consumption, pollution, and harms to human health caused by motor vehicles. It also reduces single-occupancy vehicle travel and decreases the chance of congestion on the road.

How to leverage TDM

Several programs or services are often provided in development to manage an area's transportation demand. They are as follows:

How could LEED ND help

Several transportation metrics and tools in LEED ND are standardized to help projects reach sustainable goals. I highlighted some significant instances here for your reference:

Transit passes: Project could earn points by offering its residents 100% subsidized free transit pass for one year.
Developer sponsored transit: A project could earn points with a sponsored transit that begins when the project's floor area is 20% occupied.
Vehicle sharing: Locate a project so that 50% of dwelling units and non-residential use entrance within ¼ mile of walking distance of a car-sharing program. This credit uses 100 dwelling units as a threshold to determine the size of the project and its compliance.
Unbundling parking and parking fees: This strategy is to separate the cost of parking from the cost of renting an apartment, condo, or commercial space for 90% of their units or non-residential area. Guaranteed ride home program: An employer with more than 25% of the workers on a project site must commit to providing this program.
Flexible Work Arrangements: An employer with more than 25% of the workers on a project site must commit to supporting telework, flextime, compressed workweek, staggered shift, or similar arrangements.

What to expect when combining TOD and TDM

TOD is like physical hardware, and TDM is its supportive software. TOD promotes transit ridership and walkability, and TDM increases transportation choices and helps people make decisions.

Less traffic per hour: The combination of the two reduces single-occupancy vehicles and influences rider behavior. By consistently implementing these planning strategies, we will need fewer automobiles in the city. That results in not only eliminating congestion but also transforming the market.

Less construction cost per project: Both approaches lead to less investment in parking infrastructure in the future, less land required for a project, and eventually lower construction costs per project.

More individual satisfaction: Many studies show reduced commute time and increased walkability influence personal satisfaction, which leads to a "happy economy" cycle: an economic measurement relies on factors that increase or decrease human well-being and quality of life.

Challenges to gentrification: On the other hand, transit investment also inevitably increases property value and raises housing costs or rental prices. The higher cost around the dominant transit area will force lower-income residents to live farther out towards the city periphery.

By the way:

What is a prototype in transit?

They often function as catalysts spreading in the cities to gain people's awareness. An example could be as obscure as a bike station, bus station, or parklet to as prominent as a folly or transit center. Once prototypes generate sufficient public feedback, the cities continue to build a typology of the desired transit-oriented environment through realistic market assessment and proofed design templates.

What is "Value Capture"?

Value capture is an opportunity to generate revenue by capitalizing on value created by infrastructure investment. It can be facilitated through direct measurement such as property sales, granting development franchises, or indirectly reaping higher proceeds from property tax. A successful value capture scheme depends on a supportive institutional effort—For example, forming a real estate development division within a transit agency. A good transit management company not only ensures the bus or train runs smoothly but also shapes the market by securing higher ridership.

Notes and References: