TOD seeks to create dense, walkable communities served by public transit. TOD can increase economic activity while building vibrant neighborhoods and decreasing automobile dependence.
TOD can also help lower transportation costs for low-income households, which frees up income that can be put towards other needs within the household.
Increasing Transit Ridership
Increased transit ridership requires making it simpler for people to use public transit without driving, including eliminating barriers such as confusing structures, outdated technology and upfront costs. It also involves offering extra benefits like “one more trip protection”, which enables pass holders to take an additional ride even when their money runs out.
One way of doing this is making development near transit more cost-effective by lowering parking requirements and offering incentives such as faster review processes, reduced impact fees or property tax exemptions for developers.
Increased frequency is another method to improving service. High-ridership routes should run regularly throughout the day and not just during rush hours. This makes it easy for people to travel easily from work, school or errands without checking schedules and risking missing their bus/train ride – systems such as Salt Lake City’s TRAX and FrontRunner systems have successfully adopted such frequent service models.
Creating Vibrant Communities
Transit-oriented development (TOD) seeks to foster vibrant, accessible communities free from automobile ownership or travel needs; residents in TOD neighborhoods utilize multiple modes (walking, cycling and public transportation) for getting around while personal auto use is limited to work trips and out-of-town excursions.
TOD developments offer sufficient density to support adequate transit service and are conveniently situated close to retail, offices, cultural institutions and residences – with residents being within walking distance of services like retail outlets, offices, cultural venues and residences. Dense neighborhoods provide active street life and reduced parking requirements, thus making vehicle ownership and maintenance costs more cost-effective and making neighborhoods more cost-effective. Studies demonstrate the positive correlations between residential density and transit station accessibility and lower traffic casualty rates, lower car purchases, and higher average household incomes (Cervero et al, 2004; Pollack, Gartsman and Wood 2013) and TOD’s implementation; for instance through new urban transit stations designed with neighborhoods around them or incremental changes made in suburban/urban communities that offer access to transit (Nelson/Nygaard 2002). TOD can also take place through incremental changes made within existing communities with good access to transit as part of TOD implementation (Nelson/Nygaard 2002). TOD can take shape through new urban transit station designs with neighborhoods designed around them or incremental changes made into existing suburban/urban communities with good access to public transit as a whole; both methods work by giving individuals better access to transit stations while having greater access.
Increasing Economic Activity
Enhancing housing near transit enhances the advantages of costly public investments in new transit lines, and can boost local economies. Concentrating development along economic corridors with new transit can decrease traffic congestion, reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, promote community health benefits and ultimately drive up real estate values.
Many transit agencies own land near their stations and lines that is currently being utilized as parking lots – an ineffective use of space that generates very little revenue for them. To maximize TOD efforts, these agencies should seek ways to develop this land for housing or commercial uses either independently or by teaming up with developers.
Federal funding programs like RRIF and TIFIA offer low-interest loans to promote TOD; however, burdensome requirements that don’t align with typical development processes deter developers and reduce their effectiveness. Localities should adopt TOD guidelines which encourage and support joint development by transit and private developers.
Increasing Sustainability
Sustainable development strategies must be adopted in order to combat climate change, improve standards of living and make the most of a city’s resources – TOD being one such example of such an approach.
TOD fosters compact urban development by connecting residents, services and businesses via quality public transit. This density reduces car usage while shortening commute times – all while cutting carbon emissions and fume emissions by almost 50 percent!
Communities built around transit are more energy efficient than car-oriented developments, using less energy overall and producing lower utility bills than car-dependent communities (Leinberger & Anderson 2008). Furthermore, redeveloping surface lots into TODs helps generate revenue to fund transit investments (Leinberger & Anderson, 2008).
TOD should be part of an overall plan to make cities more sustainable, and cities can maximize its effectiveness by including TOD in their comprehensive urban development plans and engaging the public during planning processes. Doing this increases the chance that citizens support TOD as active participants in its implementation.