TOD allows for more housing to be constructed on smaller lots, reduces car traffic and pollution levels, promotes healthier lifestyle choices and increases local economic activity. Valbridge provides accurate and reliable appraisals for TOD projects.

TODs promote compact city growth that integrates land development and transit service, enabling people to live without owning cars while enjoying vibrant communities.

Increased Population

TODs typically consist of offices, shops, cultural institutions and housing near transit stations that allows residents and visitors to reach their destinations without using personal vehicles that consume space and contribute to congestion – helping reduce air pollution, traffic noise as well as saving energy and resources.

TOD neighborhoods may increase property values if they’re situated near high quality transit services, as their density can help bring in greater investment value. TODs also offer more affordable housing units due to lower land costs compared to traditional developments within a given area.

TOD communities that prioritize affordability have seen increased transit ridership as a result. This is particularly significant for low income households that spend an average of 32% of their budget on transportation; only 11% can afford reliable automobiles. With TODs, low income households can save money by living closer to transit hubs – providing more disposable income that they can invest elsewhere.

Increased Value

TODs often emerge due to planning departments allowing increased density. Even without planning department approval, properties near transit hubs and stations tend to command higher market values due to an increase in demand from residents looking for living near public transportation – this lowers commuting expenses for them and thus results in savings on expenses for residents.

TOD communities typically center around transit stops and offer high-quality walking environments, often including office space, shopping and service amenities close by. This type of development is known as “transit villages” and can be found anywhere from New York City to small villages in Westchester County.

TOD should be encouraged and used as a source of funding to build more quality transit. By encouraging TOD, and taking advantage of its value creation to pay for more quality transit projects, federal funding can be maximized effectively. More homes, jobs and destinations in walkable places served by quality transit will not only increase ridership but will provide personal benefits to residents living near such transit services.

Increased Transit Ridership

Building near transit increases access for more people without cars, increasing transit ridership. At the same time, building more things near transit maximizes returns on expensive investments by transporting people and jobs without adding more automobile trips.

Sustainable community design creates walkable neighborhoods and enhances local economic activity, as well as being environmentally sustainable by decreasing greenhouse gases emissions and vehicle mileage traveled.

TODs often accompany regular transit services, increasing its utility by making travel possible in two dimensions rather than just one and providing backup for reliability issues by filling gaps when lines aren’t operating as intended.

TOD should always include equity measures, since an absence of affordable housing may displace low and middle income households from city centers, increasing transportation costs and increasing car trips. To maximize its benefits, cities should prioritize and expedite TOD projects that include higher affordable housing percentages as well as capture more of its value through transit projects to invest back into transit services.

Increased Sustainability

By developing homes, offices and service-based activities near transit stations, sustainable neighborhoods are created. These communities tend to be compact and dense, offering high-quality walking environments as well as encouraging car-free trips while increasing transit ridership while simultaneously helping reduce pollution and congestion.

Cities around the globe are turning towards TOD as an approach to reduce automobile traffic and encourage healthy lifestyles. Urban sprawl exposes residents to harmful fumes and particulates, limits physical activity, reduces access to food and leisure services and decreases their quality of life.

TOD can also bolster transit agencies’ finances. Transit agencies own land adjacent to their stations and tracks that could be utilized for commercial and residential development, which could create revenue streams that can be reinvested into improving and operating transit services. Lake Street Transit Village in Minneapolis was one such TOD project which captured value through TOD leasing land to developers who committed to affordable housing development; revenue streams generated were then directed back toward improvements and operations of transit improvements and operations. A recent example is this development includes county human services center, retail space and over 500 homes situated directly west of Minneapolis Lake Street Blue Line station.