Transit facilities include facilities on a street or road (bus stops, priority lanes, light rail tracks) as well as facilities, like train stations, which may serve a community. Transit riders often experience a street as a pedestrian going to and from a transit stop or station.
This synthesis documents experience with selected streetcar and trolley projects and their
relationship with the built environment. There appears to have been a resurgence of such
systems in the United States. Their ability to spur growth and revitalization has not been
adequately documented, whereas local potential for changes in land use are often used as
justification for investment in them. Policymakers and planners seek a better understanding
of how this mode of transportation interacts with the built environment. The report examines
selected, built streetcar and trolley systems to trace their evolution, define significant factors,
and identify commonalities among levels of success in impacting the built environment.
This report presents an initial overview of published literature; a summary of an indepth
telephone survey of 13 of the 14 currently operating U.S. streetcar systems, a 93%
response rate; and case studies of five systems with more details on the state of current
knowledge and specific relationships of streetcars to their own built environments.
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Federal Transit Administration
Transportation Research Board (TRB)
This synthesis provides a review of the application of a number of different transit preferential
treatments in mixed traffic and offers insights into the decision-making process that
can be applied in deciding which preferential treatment might be the most applicable in a
particular location. The synthesis is offered as a primer on the topic area for use by transit
agencies, as well as state, local, and metropolitan transportation, traffic, and planning
agency staffs.
This synthesis is based on the results from a survey of transit and traffic agencies related
to transit preferential treatments on urban streets. Survey results were supplemented by a
literature review of 23 documents and in-depth case studies of preferential treatments in
four cities—San Francisco, Seattle, Portland (Oregon), and Denver. Eighty urban area transit
agencies and traffic engineering jurisdictions in the United States and Canada were contacted
for survey information and 64 (80%) responded. One hundred and ninety-seven individual
preferential treatments were reported on survey forms. In addition, San Francisco
Muni identified 400 treatments just in its jurisdiction.
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Federal Transit Administration
Springdale, Utah: What's Good for a Park is Good for a Town, Too Springdale, UT
"Surrounded on three sides by Zion National Park, the town of Springdale, Utah, has long served as the gateway community for the park's visitors ... However, with almost three million visitors every year, by the early 1990s, traffic congestion and illegal parking were taking their toll on the park and its gateway town. The heart of the project is the free shuttle bus system that runs through town, picks up and drops off passengers at parking facilities, hotels and major areas, and ends at a new visitor center located within Zion National Park."
Article / Paper / Report
Transit-Friendly Streets
Transit-friendly streets are places that "balance" street uses over having any single mode of transportation dominate. In many cases, this means altering a street to make transit use more efficient and convenient, and less so for automobiles - while still accommodating them. When these alterations are done right, a kind of equilibrium is achieved among transit, cars, bicycles, and pedestrians.
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Project for Public Spaces
Excerpt
Methods and Strategies to Create Transit-Friendly Streets Communities are working together to integrate transit more effectively
into their neighborhood and downtown streets. This chapter
explores the broader impacts of this approach and provides
an overview of the tools and strategies - as well as planning
methodologies - that can be used to replicate the successful
aspects of these projects in other cities. more...
from
Transit-Friendly Streets: Design and Traffic Management Strategies to Support Livable Communities
Excerpt
Transit-Friendly Streets Transit-friendly streets are streets where transit use is
made more efficient and convenient and the street is made
less efficient and convenient for automobiles while still
accommodating them. Transit-friendly streets involve "balancing"
street uses rather than having any single mode dominate.
There is, in fact, a kind of equilibrium that is achieved
among all the uses of a street: transit, car, bicycle, and
pedestrian. more...
from
Transit-Friendly Streets: Design and Traffic Management Strategies to Support Livable Communities
Excerpt
Cross-Section Elements: Transit "Highways operate as truly multimodal transportation facilities, particularly in large urban areas. Accommodating public transit and other high-occupancy vehicles (HOVs) is an important consideration. On one end of the scale, this may involve including sidewalks to allow local residents to walk to and from bus stops. As higher levels of vehicle traffic and transit usage are expected, bus turnouts may need to be considered. At the higher end of the scale, such as on major urban freeways, dedicated bus lanes and/or HOV lanes may need to be incorporated into the design. The management of the local public transit operator should be consulted during the planning stage, if possible, so that these facilities can be incorporated into the design from the beginning." more...
"We have to get the focus off SOVs (single occupancy vehicles), and become more conscientious about incorporating other modes of transportation."
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Don Monaghan, Assistant Director, Public Works, City of SeaTac
"To be successful in making multi-modal solutions, we can't think of pedestrian and bike facilities as add-ons, they have to be a part of what we do as transportation professionals. Think inclusive."
"Now that we have become nearly saturated with traffic many hours a day in many of our towns and intersection locations ... Real mobility is going to come from transportation choice. Providing better access means that more people are going to have that choice, and leave space for those choosing only one mode."
