Communities around train stations present many opportunities for new housing, shops, and restaurants to be built nearby. To take full advantage of these possibilities, the TOD office works closely with municipalities to strengthen neighborhoods that are served by high frequency transit services.
Successful neighborhoods rely on an effective partnership between dense, walkable development and public transportation to provide vibrant neighborhoods full of choices for residents to work, shop and play.
Washington D.C.
Capital City Transit Systems have provided Washington, D.C. with an exceptional transit-oriented development system with apartment buildings and mixed-use neighborhoods, connected by Metro rail and bus lines that make travel easy, stress-free and stress-free.
Recently, there has been an increasing focus on creating vibrant, sustainable, and equitable communities centered on high-quality public transit systems. This trend, known as Transit-Oriented Development (TOD), offers various advantages both to residents and the environment.
TODs (Town Center Developments) can be defined as residential and commercial developments located within walking distance from transit stations or corridors (roughly 1/4 to 1/2 miles, or 10 minutes’ walking). TODs typically feature dense neighborhoods well served by walking networks that offer various housing options and are pedestrian-friendly.
The Washington, D.C. region boasts an efficient transportation network with fifteen Metrorail stations and eight commuter and heavy rail stations linking Washington with Baltimore and throughout the country. However, affordable housing has proven challenging in most neighborhoods due to large minimum lot sizes, deep setbacks and storey limits that restrict building per-square-foot; thus limiting overall apartment supply especially in affluent neighborhoods.
Singapore
Singapore’s glittering modern skylines and well-integrated urban transportation systems demonstrate its innovative thinking on Transit Oriented Development (TOD). The city-state specializes in high-intensity transport technologies like its ever-expanding Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) network, carefully incorporating it with land use planning. High density TOD complexes such as Marina Bay offer residences, businesses, and recreational spaces all within walking distance from public transportation stations – fostering vibrant communities where people live, work, and play together.
Even though the high cost of physical infrastructure makes TOD challenging in developing cities, they can still leverage new technologies to design demand-regulating policies that maximize use of existing infrastructure while encouraging transition to more eco-friendly modes of transport. Commuter fares generated through TOD may help finance and sustain core transport infrastructure by covering initial capital investments, operating costs and future expansion requirements; making TOD an effective strategy to provide equitable access to transportation infrastructure.
Hong Kong
Transit-oriented development (TOD) has gained global acclaim as a planning strategy to reduce automobile dependency and promote transport sustainability, yet its full effect on sustainable community development remains largely unexplored.
Hong Kong’s new towns along rail transit lines are designed to be high density, mixed use and pedestrian-friendly around a transit station. Unfortunately, this design principle has resulted in spatial disparities within those communities regarding job opportunities, pedestrian destinations and infrastructures for pedestrians; which may influence residents’ transportation and recreational walking behaviors differently.
To address this problem, a new method is proposed which uses a novel RF-TPI model to identify potential TOD areas, visualizing its results on a hot map. The RF-TPI model evaluates 13 indicators which represent TOD characteristics in a grid and its results demonstrate that TOD neighborhoods can be distinguished from traditional urban neighborhoods by proximity to transit stations as well as three key features: transit connectivity, quality of place and market potential.
New York City
As New Yorkers struggle with affordable housing and an inefficient transit system, the solution may lie in simply killing two birds with one stone: By permitting higher density near subway stations, city leaders could spur economic redevelopment while simultaneously increasing ridership.
Idealistically, TOD should apply equally well in neighborhoods with both bus stations and subway stops. By permitting larger buildings with multiple apartments, developers can provide greater densities close to transit systems that help fund future improvements.
The MTA could rezone lots around rail stations to enable TOD development, as was done for its Harrison station revitalization project. Eminent domain could then be used to seize control of these properties and sell long-term development rights in order to fund ongoing infrastructure investments.
But for cities to effectively attract developers, they must go further by eliminating parking requirements, permitting more flexible land uses and offering other forms of incentive programs.