Transit Technology
It is often asserted that TOD benefits from rail or other fixed-guideway transit. Commercial developers, it is believed, are attracted by its permanence. In pre-auto cities, dense development around subway and surface rail stations that dates back to the turn of the century is common. Yet it is not as easy to draw the conclusion that rail transit is both more permanent and a greater attractor of development than is bus transit.
A number of historical studies have reviewed the evolution of transit in several cities. However, none appears to have explored the question of the relative permanence of rail versus bus. A cursory and unpublished study of bus routes in Chicago found that most had remained unchanged since they were established in the early 1900’s (1) Many post-auto cities have experienced the development of electric trolley systems starting in the 1890’s and their removal and replacement with bus in the 1930’s and 1940’s. And now some of those trolley lines are coming back in the form of light rail. [Page]
Porter (1997), in a study of TOD across the United States, concludes that rail tends to stimulate concentrated development in areas such as central business districts where transit is highly accessible and auto traffic is impacted by congestion and costly parking. Another study found that rail alone is not sufficient to generate development; strong market forces and supportive public policies are also
