NEW EVIDENCE SUGGESTS TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT BENEFITS DRIVERS, TOO


It's a perennial debate: On the one hand advocates of mass transit argue that transit is an essential strategy for combating congestion. On the other, road advocates maintain that since only a minority of travelers use transit, we're better off expanding roads that serve most people. What if there was convincing evidence that building transit benefits everybody, whether or not they use the system?

New evidence just developed for the forthcoming book "The New Transit Town" begins to make this case. The catch is that it requires both the construction of a transit system, and an effort by local government to encourage development around stations. When that's the case, everybody wins, even people who choose to live in single-family neighborhoods and drive everywhere they go. Read more...