A Developing Trend

Beginning in the mid-1990s, some agency planners began thinking about how to develop land near station sites to help drive ridership and boost revenue. These planners realized that even though the objective of transit is to move people as efficiently as possible, development attached to a rail program can be a secondary benefit. Atlanta's Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA), Portland Oregon's Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District (TriMet) and Washington, D.C.'s Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) were among the first in the United States to consider how they could better encourage development of station-area land. Other transit agencies soon followed suit and began working with city partners to incorporate transit-oriented development (TOD) into station area-planning efforts. Today many urban transit stations are magnets for businesses, entertainment facilities, and residential buildings. An increasing number of people are moving closer to city centers to be near restaurants, entertainment venues, and offices. The level of involvement of transit agencies in station-area development varies, but whatever the role, their primary charge is to assure that transit is as efficient and reliable as possible. The article discusses how TOD offers a quality of service that makes transit a convenient and attractive choice.