New campaign urges tight transportation-land use link

The Transportation and Land Use Coalition of the Bay Area (TALC), of which the Sierra Club is a member, has proposed establishing a tight link between transit-oriented development and transportation investments.

The Metropolitan Transit Commission (MTC) next year will approve Transportation 2030, a periodic update of its 25-year Regional Transportation Plan. This can be an opportunity for the region to work toward smarter patterns of growth. TALC and the Sierra Club propose adding to the plan a requirement that transit-appropriate zoning be in place before transit funds are programmed to any given location.

This policy would apply to all new transit investments such as rail extensions or major enhancements, bus rapid transit and associated infrastructure, or ferries. The policy would also ensure that station areas have characteristics important for encouraging transit use: appropriate density, affordable housing, bicycle and pedestrian access, and elimination of requirements for parking to accompany new development. The policy would not apply to regular bus service, or to lifeline or disabled service.

The Sierra Club also supports strengthening this policy so that areas near Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) stops would be zoned for the same kind of high density as rail stations.

In December 2003 MTC already approved in concept the conditioning of transit on supportive land use in a "Land Use Policy Memorandum". The implementation, however, will be complicated. Each part of the region is different, and MTC has hired the firm Reconnecting America for a "Transit-Oriented Development Project" to establish more location- and technology-specific options for a final policy that accounts for differences in location and technologies.

In the Bay Area, most land-use planning is done at the local level, while transportation planning is done regionally. MTC already provides financial incentives for cities that promote smart growth through its Housing Incentive Program (HIP) and Transportation for Livable Communities (TLC) grants. These reward cities for developing new transit-oriented market-rate and affordable housing and infrastructure improvements for pedestrian and transit accessibility. MTC, however, has allocated just $27 million for these programs for the next three years.

Why must land use be linked to transit?

As Bay Area population grows out toward the edges of the region, poorly planned development and land use bring traffic congestion. The housing density in the new suburban areas is too low to support bus service, but housing in the central cities has become unaffordable. The auto exhaust threatens Bay Area compliance with the Clean Air Act, and valuable open space is in danger of development.

The solution requires sustainable development patterns near all fixed transportation infrastructure. When the land around transit stations is instead developed for automobile- oriented uses, ridership suffers, and the system requires a greater operating subsidy. Low farebox revenue can mean a reduction in service (as with the BART extension to San Francisco, SamTrans, and the Valley Transit Authority's Tasman light-rail line) - or increased fares - which in turn lead to even lower ridership. The taxpayers of the entire jurisdiction end up paying the costs of inefficient land use and transportation connections.

Prioritizing public-transit investments for locations that commit to supportive land uses will support ridership.

What You Can Do

For more information and to see the full proposal, visit www.transcoalition.org/c/sus_rtp/rtp_home.html or call TALC at (510) 740-3150.

To get involved in work on this issue, contact Andy Katz at andykatz -at- cal.berkeley.edu or (510) 540-5921.

Andy Katz, co-chair, Sierra Club Bay Chapter Transportation and Compact Growth Committee