10 WAYS TO ENHANCE YOUR COMMUNITY
UNLEASH THE POWER
OF PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
Download
in Adobe PDF format.
America’s
communities are being revitalized. So how are the most successful ones
boosting property values and stimulating local economies while solving
traffic problems and providing citizens with the mobility to access opportunities?
By enhancing and developing their public transportation systems.
From
small towns to big cities, public transportation is helping to generate
new vitality like never before. Beautiful, walkable town squares combine
residential, retail, office, recreation and public transportation features
to make community living easy. New bus services and light rail extensions
improve mobility and ease congestion. Even the smallest adjustments, like
widening sidewalks and adding bikeways, can provide dramatic impact and
value.
Along
with easing congestion and improving air quality, the benefits of enhancing
public transit are enormous. Transit-oriented development increases property
values, property tax revenues, sales tax revenues and more. In short,
a healthy transportation system can anchor a community’s revitalization
effort.
Want
to learn how your community can make the most of its public transportation
system? Take a look at the next few pages. You’ll discover 10 inspiring
tips that can help public transportation help you and your neighborhood.
1. MAKE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
A PLANNING PRIORITY
When
your public transit system serves a mix of residential and commercial
uses, you’ll help reduce vehicle trips and make residents less dependent
on their cars. Imagine the positive impact on local traffic, the economy
and air quality when facilities like libraries, hospitals, houses of worship
and civic buildings are located near public transit stations.
Make
sure that public transportation services are part of the decision-making
process when you are considering new public facilities and when developers
are proposing new commercial projects. Remove barriers to traditional
urban design, and consider changing zoning and building codes, including
any parking requirements.
Take
New Jersey’s Transit Village Program, for instance. In 1999, the state
named five communities public transit villages. To foster redevelopment
and investment in areas near transportation centers—and to simultaneously
promote the use of public transit—the communities agreed to create mixed-use
developments within a quarter mile of a bus terminal or rail station.
These mixed-use communities were to combine residential components with
retail, office, parking and public uses within easy walking distance of
each other.
One
of the communities, South Orange, teamed private sector and local officials
with NJ TRANSIT to rehabilitate closed-up storefronts around the public
transit station. A transformed and revitalized downtown center emerged.
There’s an ice cream parlor, coffee shop, dry cleaner, bakery, clothing
store and diner. Local officials also used federal funds to implement
an ambitious streetscape project, and NJ TRANSIT added parking, landscaping
and kiosks. What’s more, over 200 high-density housing units are now within
walking distance of the bustling center.
2. MAKE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
THE CENTER OF YOUR COMMUNITY
The
best place to build public transit centers and bus stops is in the heart
of your community. This helps create lively activity and a center of commerce
that can become a community landmark, while also reducing the use of costly
land for parking spaces.
Want
to encourage public transit use? It’s probably a lot easier than you think.
In fact, many communities were developed as a result of a railroad or
busline. Use this to your advantage. Renovate the historic railroad station
into an intermodal facility that could include a library, revive it as
a community activity center for adult education classes or use it as a
farmers market on weekends.
Build
shops, offices and residential dwellings close together, centered around
attractive features such as planters, benches, fountains and public art.
It’s best to place parking facilities behind commercial developments rather
than in the center of them. By doing so, you’ll have developed an area
that’s walkable and inviting—villages where people want to spend time
shopping, playing, living and working.
This
attention to planning can pay off. On the banks of the Wabash River, the
City of West Lafayette, Indiana, has created a new downtown in a city
that’s never had one. A public-private venture, Wabash Landing’s master
plan incorporates retail stores and restaurants, a multi-screen theater,
residential dwellings, a park, a hotel, a child care center, a soon-to-be-built
ice skating rink and much more.
Designed
to echo a 1950s-era town square, the mixeduse development links the Purdue
University campus, the riverfront and, across the river, Lafayette’s central
business district. A new pedestrian bridge now connects West Lafayette
with Lafayette and its multi-modal bus and rail transportation center.
CityBus, the regional transit agency, provides bus service through the
area, enabling students, residents and visitors to conveniently combine
walking, biking and public transit to meet their mobility needs.
3. MAKE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
LOOK FANTASTIC
The
more comfortable people are in your public transit facilities, the more
often they’ll use them. So ensure that they look great. Make your facilities
easy to get to and easy to use. Keep them clean, safe and secure. Provide
sidewalks and eliminate barriers.
Don't
hide your facilities—design them as part of the community. Plant shrubs,
trees and flowers, and then make sure they’re well-maintained. And think
about attractive lighting. It’s as important for safety as it is for enhancing
the character of your community.
For
example, in Tempe, Arizona, the community has made public transit fun
by installing artist-designed bus shelters throughout the area. The shelters
are colorful, creative, whimsical and interesting. Buses also have put
art into motion with artist-designed wraps placed on the city’s new neighborhood
circulators. The buses are a source of pride and inspiration for the community.
Corpus
Christi, Texas, worked with its regional transportation authority to make
its bus stops and transfer stations safer, more attractive and more inviting
to the public. With funding from the Federal Transit Administration, the
city has turned key transfer centers— Staples Street and Port Ayers—into
focal points of their surrounding communities. Landscaping, pedestrian
walkways, lighting, vibrant paint and tilework have transformed the neighborhoods.
The result? Increased ridership and significant re-investment in the community.
4. MAKE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
EASY STREET FOR PEDESTRIANS.
Riders
often walk to public transit stops and stations. So consider the sidewalks
and routes around the stops. Narrow streets, for example, reduce vehicle
speeds, resulting in streets that are safer for pedestrians.
When
you configure your sidewalks to be wide and appealing, people feel safe
and comfortable. And take the time to make sure they are well-lit.
Also
remember that planning smaller, interconnected streets fosters easy access
to neighborhood destinations. This provides pedestrians with optional
routes and shorter walking distances.
Just
a decade ago, Lake Worth, Florida’s downtown was in disrepair, commercial
vacancies were high and traffic flowed through core streets at high speeds.
It was not an attractive or welcoming place to be. Faced with growing
traffic problems, planners ultimately decided to implement a comprehensive
streetscaping program designed to reduce the speed of traffic. The program
included narrower streets, wider sidewalks, decorative lighting, benches,
landscaping and more. To improve mobility, a trolley bus service was added
along with new bike lanes. Lake Worth’s downtown is now revitalized, with
well-attended public events and increasing property values.
5. MAKE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
THE HOTTEST TICKET IN TOWN.
Help
public transit bring people to holiday events, fairs, festivals and sporting
events in your community. Be sure to team with your local public transit
system—not only will they often help advertise your community event, they
may offer special promotions for people who get there by public transit.
Also consider building public transit kiosks, where representatives can
hand out schedules, brochures, coloring books, promotional passes and
more.
How
do you create synergy like this? Dallas, Texas, is a great example. When
it’s time to plan its annual state fair—the largest in the country— they
make sure the public transit system has special DART Flyer buses ready
to go. The Dallas Area Rapid Transit District provides fairgoers with
free parking at any of its eight transit centers, then whisks them to
and from the fairgrounds in air-conditioned comfort. DART also provides
a shuttle between its light rail station and the fairgrounds, encouraging
residents to leave their cars at home.
Dallas
isn’t the only community that does this. Minneapolis- St. Paul offers
similar public transit services to the state fair. And for fans of the
San Diego Chargers and Padres, the Metropolitan Transit Development Board
has made getting to the stadium simple and convenient—buses and trolleys
take fans directly to the games. Sports fans in communities like Baltimore,
Cleveland and Denver also enjoy the advantages of public transit, including
not having to deal with traffic jams and parking.
6. MAKE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
EVERYBODY’S BUSINESS.
You
know that the more people ride public transit, the more benefits your
community will see. So help increase ridership by getting local businesses
involved. They may not realize that, thanks to the federal Transportation
Equity Act for the 21st Century, they can now offer their employees a
tax-free monthly benefit of up to $100 for commuting costs on public transit
or in vanpools.
In
Portland, Oregon, Intel and Nike already know about this great program,
and they both offer annual public transit passes to all employees. And
in California, Sun Microsystems has been actively involved in getting
its 13,000 Bay Area and southern California workers to use commuting alternatives
to get to and from work. This company sells public transit tickets at
work sites, offers a $20 monthly subsidy for each employee toward the
purchase of a public transit ticket, operates shuttle services between
work sites and public transit stations, and provides guaranteed rides
home for those using public transit, carpools and vanpools. And it’s working.
In a 1998 survey, Sun Microsystems found that approximately one-quarter
of its Bay Area workers were using a commute alternative.
It’s
also happening in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where companies of all sizes can help
their employees pay for public transit fares by providing Bonus Bucks
public transit vouchers. Employers pay half the cost of an employee’s
monthly bus fare and then deduct it as a business expense. Employers offer
the vouchers to interested employees, who then send the vouchers to Tulsa
Transit along with their share of the fares. Monthly passes are sent to
the employees and an invoice is sent to the employer for the vouchers
redeemed. It’s an easy process with extraordinary benefits.
7. MAKE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
A NEXT-DOOR NEIGHBOR.
Why
encourage residential homes near public transit facilities? It’s convenient,
reduces traffic and adds vitality to a downtown. It also pays off for
the homeowner. A study by the University of North Texas reports that housing
along the Dallas Area Rapid Transit light rail line is valued 25 percent
higher than similar homes located elsewhere in the city.
A
team of non-profit organizations recently partnered with Fannie Mae to
create a new kind of mortgage: the Location-Efficient Mortgage. Since
people buying homes in convenient, public-transit-rich neighborhoods tend
to own fewer cars and drive less, why not enable them to apply those savings
to finance mortgages? The Location-Efficient Mortgage allows these prospective
homebuyers to apply for mortgages that are $15,000 to $50,000 higher than
ones they could apply for otherwise—making homeownership possible for
more families. Already, lenders in Seattle, Chicago, Los Angeles and San
Francisco are offering this program, and Fannie Mae has committed to purchasing
$100 million in such mortgages over the next few years.
Meanwhile,
the Metropolitan Transportation Commission of Oakland, California, has
established a new Housing Incentive Program that provides funds to jurisdictions
that locate compact housing near public transit. The jurisdictions may
spend the monies on any neighborhoodbased transportation projects that
are consistent with the public transit agency’s Transportation for Livable
Communities Program, which helps fund improvements on streetscapes and
bicycle and pedestrian facilities.
What’s
more, Maryland’s Live Near Your Work program combines funds from employers,
the state, the local municipality and employees to create a total pool
of at least $3,000 toward the purchase of a home near an employee’s place
of work. Because the employee must live in the home for at least three
years, the program helps to stabilize the neighborhood and reduce turnover
in the workplace. Once again, the program supports clean air initiatives
and lessens local dependence on the automobile.
8. MAKE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
A CANVAS FOR NEW IDEAS.
The
ways you can make better use of public transportation in your community
are limitless. Engage your citizens and get their ideas. Try different
things. Your own community members can be inspirational resources for
new and exciting projects.
For
example, an innovative group of Boulder, Colorado citizens changed the
face of their transportation system. Tired of circuitous routes and empty
buses, they made it clear to the city council that something had to change
if they were to use the system. Working in partnership with the city,
this cross-section of citizens—from students to seniors to business leaders—developed
a new service called the HOP. Their intentions were for the HOP to serve
three main areas of the city, run every 10 minutes and operate small buses
that would mesh with the character of the ecologically minded community.
The
service launched in 1994 with a daily ridership goal of 2,000 passenger
trips. It was surpassed within four weeks. Today that number has grown
to 5,000. And by working with the Regional Transportation District, the
city’s GO Boulder office has developed four new citizendriven services:
the SKIP, JUMP, LEAP and BOUND.
But
they haven’t stopped there. GO Boulder is working equally hard on developing
public transit pass programs to generate even more interest and increase
ridership further. For instance, all Colorado university student IDs double
as unlimited-use bus passes and cost students only $21 per semester. The
city is also working with local businesses to create a similar business
pass program, and is developing an annual neighborhood public transit
pass program for $50 to $100 per household, per year.
9. MAKE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
A COMMUNITY PARTNER.
Get
ready to create a beautiful friendship. Partnering with your local public
transportation system is one sure way to serve your community better.
From municipal to regional to state levels, officials are not only finding
new ways to factor public transportation into their planning equations—they’re
making them happen.
In
Maplewood, New Jersey, the local Chamber of Commerce partnered with NJ
TRANSIT to establish a concierge service at their local train station.
Just like at a hotel, the concierge can take care of commuters’ needs
with a simple phone call. In fact, one desk represents more than 30 community
businesses. Commuters can drop off dry cleaning, order gourmet take-out
for the night’s dinner and have their car tires replaced—all through one
quick stop at the concierge desk on the way to work. Local businesses
aren’t the only ones that benefit. The concierge establishes a vibrant
presence at the train station, and encourages people to ride more often
because they can get more done.
In
the 1990s, residents and business owners in the South Park neighborhood
of Tucson, Arizona, joined forces with the Tucson Urban League, the University
of Arizona, the Tucson Department of Transportation, the U.S. Department
of Housing and Urban Development and the Federal Transit Administration
to improve the South Park community. A newly built boulevard was directing
traffic away from their area, resulting in problems for their local economy.
So
with funding from the FTA and the City of Tucson, they planned and implemented
a series of streetscaping improvements to beautify the neighborhood. Soon,
pedestrian, bicycle and public transit users were enjoying sidewalk and
curb access ramps, six new artistic bus shelters, pedestrian-friendly
walls doubling as a public art canvas, new traffic signals and landscaping.
How
did all this happen? Community residents rose to the challenge, held monthly
town hall meetings and gave plenty of input on the design and implementation
of the project. Then the South Park Community Art Center opened, and under
the tutelage of a local artist, the community went to work to create mosaics,
totems and sculptures—all now displayed in their own neighborhood. The
partnership and investment in South Park have helped instill new pride
and volunteerism in the community, while establishing the conditions needed
to help rebuild the local economy.
10. MAKE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
A WISE INVESTMENT.
Want
the best return on public transit? Invest in it. When federal, state and
local entities partner with the private sector, and when you participate
in the regional transportation planning and programming process, you can
ensure that your money is being used most effectively.
For
example, most states are working to include transportation components
in their welfare reform projects. Grants have been awarded to states to
develop strategies to help welfare recipients gain access to employment
through better transportation opportunities.
Take
Michigan, for instance. The Department of Transportation has distributed
nearly $20 million to the state’s network of public transportation providers.
Part of the state’s transportation-to-work effort, the funding is helping
welfare recipients and other low-income workers get to and from work,
training and child care sites.
In
Portland, Oregon, the city’s growth strategy has long been tied directly
to public transit. Since the 1970s, Portland has recognized the importance
of improving its public transportation system to achieve a variety of
goals. The city created a Fareless Square to give people free rides on
public transit within the central business district. The city also put
a lid on downtown parking and created exclusive bus lanes to improve travel
times.
Tri-Met,
which serves three counties in the Portland metro area, continues to expand
its bus and light rail system. A new 5.5-mile light rail extension serving
the airport was built through an innovative public-private venture, requiring
no new property tax dollars, state general funds or federal appropriations.
Or
look at Tempe, Arizona, where residents approved a transit improvement
plan that is being funded with one-half of one percent of local sales
tax revenue. The improvements include expanded bus service, the implementation
of free neighborhood circulator buses linking residents to bus routes
and major activity centers, improved bikeways and new and improved bus
shelters.
To
learn more about these examples—and to discover how public transportation
is an investment that really gives back—log on to www.publictransportation.org.
PROJECT PARTNERS
THE TRANSPORTATION
AND LIVABLE COMMUNITIES CONSORTIUM
American Association
of State Highway and Transportation Officials
American Institute
of Architects
American Planning
Association
American Public Transportation
Association*
American Public Works
Association
Association of Metropolitan
Planning Organizations
Environmental Protection
Agency
Federal Highway Administration
Federal Transit Administration
Institute of Transportation
Engineers
International City
Managers Association’s Smart Growth Network
International Downtown
Association
Local Initiatives
Support Group
National Association
of Home Builders
National Association
of Realtors
National Governors
Association
National Trust for
Historic Preservation
Project for Public
Spaces
Surface Transportation
Policy Project
Urban Land Institute
US Department of Transportation
*This report was underwritten
by APTA's private sector business partners and its Public Transportation
Partnership for Tomorrow initiative.
1666 K Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006-1215 Phone: 202.496.4800 www.publictransportation.org
|
