urban future
tod myths and facts
myth 6 |
anything next to a rail stop is transit-oriented development |
A home for cars, not people. BART Station, San Francisco Bay area.
fact |
Design mistakes can cause a TOD to under-perform or even fail. |
Rail holds the promise – and a strong track record – of altering land use patterns. However, rail transit can only achieve this promise if transit agencies and cities follow established TOD's Do's and Don'ts.
Too often, transit agencies make the mistake of placing large surface parking lots and bus depots adjacent to stations. If the city, developer or transit agency makes the mistake of emphasizing bus depots and surface parking lots, the rail stop takes on the characteristic of a destination retail power center – high traffic oceans of asphalt that make poor neighbors.
While it may seem like a good idea to emphasize buses and parking lots to build ridership quickly, in the long run the decision to prioritize buses and cars over people leads to a failure to expand ridership and a failure to achieve the full potential of rail transit.
Above all else, TOD's should focus on creating communities. When rail stops are designed to be immediately adjacent to high density town centers, the resulting development is more likely to be successful and to support further development. This higher density development in turn can help fund the creation of extensive public parking through the use of a parking enterprise to fund parking. With their higher densities, TOD's frequently produce more in tax base than they consume in public services.
Residents of TOD's are more likely to ride rail. They are also more likely to run errands on foot instead of making every trip by car. That's why data demonstrates that TOD's produce nearly 50 percent less traffic than conventional single use developments.
Ultimately, well-designed TOD's becoming community gathering places that are low in traffic and high in quality of life.