Changing Tracks: Rail Transit And Planning

In an article published in the latest issue of The Next American City, the varying impacts of rail transit on old and new American cities is compared. The authors recommend that western cities have an important opportunity to use transit as an effective planning tool, rather than just a response to existing conditions. .

"Light rail has the potential to transform the transportation habits of hundreds of thousands of users. Additionally, by decreasing congestion, conserving fuel, and reducing emissions, transit creates a public good that benefits even those who choose not to use it. Already, light rail has had a significant impact in the West. In some places, like Portland, it has affected new development, with Metropolitan Area Express (MAX) light rail lines expanding into previously undeveloped areas and shaping those areas’ characteristics."

"In many metropolitan areas, transportation planners find themselves in a position of reacting to sprawl and its related congestion problems, producing public transportation systems that fail to capitalize on their potential to shape future development patterns and instead try to get people living amongst sprawl to use transit. Some Metrorail stations—Shady Grove, at the northwest end of the Red Line in Maryland, for example—have followed this example, focusing on herding commuters from surrounding areas to massive park-and-ride lots. But along most of the Metrorail, Washington-area planners have taken a different route, encouraging stations to serve as catalysts for development or redevelopment of surrounding neighborhoods."