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Useful Transit: Bridging the Gap between the Vision and Reality of Transit-Oriented Communities

Transit-oriented communities (TOCs) have long been championed as a sustainability solution, promising reductions in vehicle miles traveled, greenhouse gas emissions, car ownership rates, and household transportation costs. However, empirical evidence suggests that TOCs often fall short of such outcomes with many residents still owning cars and still driving to most destinations (Rodier et al., 2019). For example, TOCs tend to emerge along stops near new large-scale transit investments, particularly along new rail corridors (Cervero et al., 2017). These new rail corridors often focus on bringing travelers to and from downtown destinations – with high frequencies during peak hours – or to other major land uses such as airports (Walker, 2024). But with increased remote work and more of a reliance on gig economy jobs, such destinations may not be as essential as they used to be (Kahn, 2022). Moreover, travelers needing to access other destinations such as schools, healthy food options, or health care facilities – especially during off-peak hours – rarely receive an equitable level of transit service (Muley et al., 2007). This lack of a useful, more general transit service can force residents near these stops into car ownership or into regularly using ridesharing or other such services. While myriad factors play a role in this lack of success with respect to the above sustainability-related outcomes, the relative usefulness of the transit itself is often taken for granted and remains an under-researched issue. Using the Denver region as our initial case study, this project first seeks to understand why some transit-oriented communities may be meeting their sustainability goals while others do not. We will then assess transit usefulness in order to understand its contribution to the relative success or failure of the TOC while simultaneously considering differences related to age, gender, race, and income. To be more precise, we will gather data on transit ridership, mode shares, car ownership rates, household transportation costs, demographic information, land use patterns, employment distribution, access to essential services, and other relevant variables. We will then: 1. Identify the factors contributing to the over- or under-performance of TOCs in achieving sustainability outcomes; 2. Evaluate the usefulness of transit in TOCs in facilitating access to a diverse range of destinations beyond downtown area for a diversity of users; 3. Create a new type of transit map that accounts for variables such as headways and the variety of destinations in order to focus on the usefulness of transit instead of raw transit coverage; and 4. Analyze the collected data to identify factors contributing to the performance of TOCs in achieving sustainability goals. We will use these results to propose strategies that will enhance the effectiveness of TOCs and our transportation investments in them. By collaborating with Denver’s regional transit provider, we will also include a significant technology transfer component that may lead to changes in transit supply and our future ability to empirically test the strategies that our results suggested. Outputs will include 1) At least two conference papers to be submitted to Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting; 2) At least one peer-reviewed journal publication; 3) Development of an online, public-facing map series focused less on transit coverage and more on transit usefulness.

Language

  • English

Project

  • Status: Active
  • Funding: $78000
  • Contract Numbers:

    69A3552348337

  • Sponsor Organizations:

    Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

    University Transportation Centers Program
    Department of Transportation
    Washington, DC  United States  20590
  • Managing Organizations:

    Center for Equitable Transit-Oriented Communities (CETOC)

    University of New Orleans
    New Orleans, LA  United States 
  • Project Managers:

    Kline, Robin

    Danton, Bob

  • Performing Organizations:

    University of Colorado, Denver

    Denver, CO  United States 
  • Principal Investigators:

    Marshall, Wesley

    Shirgaokar, Manish

    Misra, Aditi

  • Start Date: 20241001
  • Expected Completion Date: 20250930
  • Actual Completion Date: 0
  • USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers Program

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01928837
  • Record Type: Research project
  • Source Agency: Center for Equitable Transit-Oriented Communities (CETOC)
  • Contract Numbers: 69A3552348337
  • Files: UTC, RIP
  • Created Date: Aug 26 2024 2:56PM