To Live Or Work Near Transit Line? That is The Question

http://www.citylab.com/commute/2015/09/whats-more-important-to-non-car-commuters-living-or-working-near-transit/405592/

Commuter train
Photograph by Wally Gobetz/Flickr
citylab.com

Hello Everyone:

A new week, fresh material.  Today, with the help of Eric Jaffe's article for CityLab, we answer the question in the title "What's More Important to Non-Car Commuters: Living or Working Near Transit?"  If you are a person without access to reliable transportation (e.g. a car), this is an important question.  Mr. Jaffe writes, "In an ideal transit city, where commuting by bus or rail is convenient as taking car...But in the typical city, where transit-oriented development remains a work in progress, one end of the commute might be much more accessible than the other..."  He asks his readers the important question, "...which is more likely to get commuters out of their car: living near a stop, or working near one?

Analysis of commuter patterns of 3,400 employed locals
Denver, Colorado
Data: Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice
citylab.com

In the interest of full disclosure, your truly lives near a metro bus stop.  That said, a trio of researchers at the University of Denver: Gregory J. Kwoka, E. Eric Boschman, and Andrew R. Goetz recently published a study, The impact of transit station areas on the travel behaviors of workers in Denver, Colorado (http://www.sciencedirect.com).  The study highlights include: "the effects of work and residence proximity to transit station areas on travel behaviors of workers."  How "Sustainable travel behaviors are measured by trip generation, mode, and distance."  If "Living near transit does not increase the use of non-car modes for work commutes."  If "Workplace proximity to transit is more influential upon commute and personal trip mode" and whether "Locating jobs nearer to transit may be a more effective in promoting more non-car usage." (Ibid)  The researchers analyzed commuter patterns of 3,400 locals between 2009 and 2010, who lived, worked, or lived and worked "near" (half-mile, mile, or 15 minute walk) light rail lines.

Metro bus
kplu.org

Predictably, people who lived and worked near light rail stations had the highest commute shares.  When commuters lived and worked one mile away from light rail lines, 35 percent used non-automative transportation; at the half-mile mark, the number increased to 50 percent; when the distance was a 15 minute walk, 62 percent of commuters used non-car transportation.  In short, Mr. Jaffe writes, "All three figures easily topped the regional transit commute share of 16 percent (which included employed locals who did not live or work, or live and work, near transit).

"Non-Car Commute Share of Denver Workers By Transit Proximity"
Data: Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice
citylab.com

Further, Eric Jaffe reports, "More surprisingly, commuters who worked near light rail had much stronger transit commute habits than those who lived near it."  The statistical breakdown was: "Those with offices within a mile of transit had a 26 percent transit commute share; those with homes, meanwhile, had a mere 11 percent-lower than the overall regional average.  At the half-mile mark, those shares rose to 31 percent for office proximity and 18 percent for home proximity.  At the 15-minute threshold they hit 37 and 26 percent, respectively."

Light rail commuters
healthline.com

What these number mean is far more commuters traveled to work without a car when their place of employment was public transit, instead of near their home-regardless how the researchers defined "near".  Messr Kwoka, Boschman, and Goetz concluded:

Living near a transit station area by itself does not increase the likelihood of using non-car modes for work commutes.  But as would be expected, if the destination (work) is near a transit station, persons are less likely to drive a car to work. (http://www.sciencedirect.com)

In the interest of making things clear, the authors of the University of Denver study insist they are not implying that the clustering of household near transit is unimportant.  The statistics underscore this point, "when both home and office were within a short, 15-minute walk of a station, transit was chosen by a strong majority of commuters-62 percent among this population."  Eric Jaffe makes clear that this is the case under ideal circumstances, both ends of the journey have easy access to transit options.

Subway riders
leaningenglish.voanews.com

The conclusions reached in the study do suggest focusing transit-oriented development in job centers could lead to greater benefits than in residential areas-or at the very least reduce automobile commutes.  This is something that urban planners and civic officials should consider but, as Mr. Jaffe warns, "it shouldn't come at the expense of all the other variables that go into the decision of whether or not to commute by car: the cost of parking perhaps chief among them, and the frequency of transit service not far behind."  Reliable, safe, attractive, and affordable transportation are key to smart growth.  Anything else will only get you so far.