Why Transit Is Only Marginally Important to Transit-Oriented Development

Perhaps the most surprising item in the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy's (ITDP) new report on maximizing transit investment, says Eric Jaffe, is the fact that transit quality has "a limited role in predicting transit-oriented development". 

"So what mattered most to TOD success? Government intervention, says ITDP. When local government did almost nothing to promote TOD, a new transit line generated only a nominal amount of economic investment," notes Jaffe. "Only when strong government intervention occurred was a transit line assured of generating a great deal of TOD success."

"Rezoning a corridor to encourage mixed-use development, creating a comprehensive plan for the area, actively reaching out to investors, marketing the program, offering financial incentives — these elements of a strong official involvement directly predicted TOD success."