TOD refers to the practice of designing communities around high quality transit systems, with an aim of encouraging compact city growth that relies less on automobiles and sprawl. TOD helps lower living costs for residents while creating more customers for businesses in their community.
TOD principles remain as relevant today as ever in major cities such as New York or smaller towns along CTfastrak and CTrail.
Walkable Neighborhoods
Walking is essential to creating healthy and sustainable urban communities. Walking reduces car use, promotes public transit use and fosters walkable neighborhoods.
Urban development and neighborhood planning too often prioritize car travel over pedestrian needs, leading to lower density developments that make it hard for people to meet daily needs without using their car. This makes meeting daily obligations harder for many.
Effective zoning and land-use policies are key components of creating walkable communities. Ideal communities feature housing, work and social amenities within easy walking distance of high-quality public transit stations – and dense and compact developments which maximize how many destinations can be reached on foot. Furthermore, designing streets and open spaces specifically to encourage walking facilitates social interactions while making walking an enjoyable experience for residents.
Convenient Transit Access
Communities centered around high quality transit can help people live less car dependent lives, by creating compact and walkable neighborhoods near public transit that reduce congestion and greenhouse gas emissions.
Convenient transit access is also key for attracting small businesses to an area and keeping tax dollars within its borders instead of being siphoned off by big business. By creating retail, restaurant, and office spaces within walking distance of transit stations, vibrant communities can flourish more effectively.
Studies on traffic generation suggest that Transit Oriented Developments generate significantly fewer vehicle trips than conventional, automobile-oriented developments, particularly if their transit system offers enhanced service quality such as comfort, amenities, frequent and reliable operations, information, as well as effective marketing programs from their transit agency.
Access to Jobs
We understand the power of living near their jobs can give households of all income levels more options in choosing where to work and saving on transportation costs, freeing funds for childcare, education, health care costs, conventional down payments and savings accounts.
Equitable transit-oriented development is crucial to economic vitality and social mobility in the US.
Many Fourth District metro areas have experienced declining job access since 2007, our analysis shows. A variety of factors affect job access rates, such as where employment growth occurs. Policies designed to influence where jobs are located could provide another viable policy solution alongside traditional transit-based measures.
Economic Vitality
Communities with economic vitality boast successful businesses, ample job openings, and access to the services necessary for daily living. Furthermore, their diverse economic base reduces sector-specific downturns.
TOD principles help foster economic vitality by clustering jobs and housing near public transportation, increasing foot traffic to neighborhood businesses and supporting small business expansion. Furthermore, TOD principles increase property values to generate revenues for transit investments or affordable housing schemes.
TOD has long been used in conjunction with light and heavy rail transit systems, but can also be applied to buses through what is known as bus transit-oriented development (BTOD). To ensure equitable outcomes, TOD must include inclusive processes that engage local residents from project planning stages forward; these should include meaningful community co-creation sessions, incorporation of community input into planning efforts, as well as guaranteeing affordable housing is included within TOD projects.
Environmental Sustainability
Environmental sustainability refers to the practice of maintaining human communities while conserving Earth’s resources. This may involve practices which limit population growth and consumption, reduce affluence and technology use, promote healthier lifestyles and support social inclusion.
Walking or cycling to transit hubs instead of driving encourages physical activity that can improve cardiovascular health and decrease obesity rates; also, less car traffic means reduced air pollutants that protect respiratory health.
TODs also foster local business by providing convenient access to customers. In turn, this fosters more tax revenue that can be reinvested back into infrastructure improvements and services within a community. TOD communities typically offer low-income residents reduced transportation costs thanks to public transit options.