Transforming Cities

with Transit
Robert Cervero

Panel on
Planning the Future of
Cities & Urban Mobility

Motorization & Car-Dependent Cities

Equate with:

Air PollutionLocal & Global

Fossil Fuel Dependence
Social Exclusion
Neighborhood Disruption
Mounting Congestion -- Erodes Economic
Growth & Quality of Life (Time Pollution)

Induced Demand

Cant Built Your way Out of

Traffic Congestion
Developed World: 90% of added
capacity gets consumed within 3-5 years

ASI Model: Avoid, Shift, Improve

Avoid

Shift

Improve

Urban Visions Driving Transport Investments

Urban Vision/
Land Use

Transport
Infrastructure

Developing Countries: with more congestion &

pent-up demand for accessible locations,
expect stronger city-shaping impacts of new
motorways, metros, BRT

Land Use Visions shaping

Transport Programs
COPENHAGENs FINGER PLAN

Ballerup

Omstad

The Micro-Scale
Copenhagen
The Bicycle City

Protected Bike Parking

at Rail Station

Rail Station

1953

1974

COPENHAGEN: LAND RECLAMATION FROM THE PRIVATE CAR

1978

2010

Sustainable Urbanism: Shaping Travel Through City Design

3Ds of the
Built Environment

Impacts

Density

Less VKT/capita
Diversity

Design

R. Cervero & K. Kockelman, Travel

Demand and the 3Ds: Density, Diversity,
Design, Transportation Research, 1996.

Dense & Compact

Urban Form Matters

DIVERSITY: Mixed Land Uses

Advantages of Mixed Uses:

Civic

Neighborhood

Residential

Commercial

Shortens trips; promotes

walking/cycling & transit

Allows consolidating trips

-- trip chaining
Spreads trips throughout day/
week activates/invigorates
the project; natural surveillance
Allows shared parking

Before

After

Reinventing/Reimagining: Adaptive Re-Use in Dallas

Mockingbird Station

Before
After

Before

Plano Transit Village

After

Adaptive Re-Use: Seattle Shopping Mall

Northgate
Transit
Center

From mall parking lot to MXD of condos, senior housing, and daylit
creek park
Thornton Place, Northgate Mall, North Seattle, WA: LEED-ND pilot
program

DESIGN
Place making/Public
realm
Softening perceptions of
densities
Enhancing walking
environments

Phot:DOT/NYC

Urban Design & Pedestrian Access to Metros

2.000.000
1.800.000

1.739.500

Beijing Central Station

1.600.000
1.400.000
1.200.000
1.000.000

Jobs accessed by foot

within 20 minutes from a
major CBD metro station

800.000
600.000

352.800

400.000

157.200

200.000
Source: World Bank, Urban
Transport for Development, 2008

New York

London

Beijing

Key TOD Planning & Design Principles for Chinese Cities

Break Up the Superblocks!

Source: Calthorpe Associates,

Transit Oriented Districts Plan, Liangjiang New District, Chongqing Planning Bureau, 2013

Transit Oriented Development (TOD)

Compact

Mixed Land Uses

Pedestrian-friendly design
Physically oriented to transit; not just adjacent
Transit Station & Environs A Place to Be
Not Just to Pass Through
Pleasant Hill
California
BART
TOD

Calthorpes
Model

Site Design

TOD is not new

1906

1912

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) in Stockholm

TOD on aTOD
Brown
Hammarby
Sjstad
on aField:
Green
Field: Vllingby
SingleFamily
Housing

Industrial
Zone

Green
Area

Vllingby

Multi-family

Housing

Retail
Core

SingleFamily
Housing

SingleFamily
Housing

Hammarby
Sjstad

Congestion Pricing

Tramway Spine

Skinny Streets/
Traffic Calming

Community
Gardens

Green TOD
A Marriage of TOD & Green Urbanism

TOD

Green Urbanism

Mobile Sources

Stationary Sources

Design

Energy self-sufficient

World-class transit
(trunk & distribution)
Station as hub)
Non-motorized access
(bikepaths, ped-ways)

Bikesharing/
Carsharing
Minimal Parking
(reduced land
consumption, building
massing &
impervious surfaces)

(renewably powered
solar, wind turbines)
Zero-waste (recycle;
re-use; methane
digesters; rainwater
collection for irrigation
& gray-water use)

Community gardens
(compost, canopies,
food security)

Buildings: Green Roofs,

Orientation (optimal
temperatures),

Materials
(reycled; low impact)
R. Cervero
and K.Carbon
Sullivan, 2011,
Green TODs: Marrying Transit-Oriented
Overall
Reduction/Energy
Savings:
Development and Green Urbanism. International Journal of Sustainable
33%
below
conventional
development
Development
& World
Ecology,
Vol. 18, No. 3, 2011,
pp. 210-218;.

Central Saint Giles, London Best TOD in

ITDBs TOD Standard
11-story office building with 405,000 ft2 of commercial space.
15-story residential building with 109 dwelling units, half of which
are affordable (in exchange for 2 more commercial floors).
Central pedestrian plaza between the 2 buildings, surrounded
by 24,500ft2 of ground floor transparent retail & restaurant space.

TOD: Types & Functions

Market Served: Neighborhood; District; Regional

Land-Use Make-Up: Commercial-Office; Residential; MixedUse; Complete Community

Dominant Function:
Node (access/logistics) vs.

Place-Making (destination)

TOD Design Challenge: Conflict of Place and Node

Place
Community Hub Modern-day Agora
Attractive Milieu - Comfortable, Memorable,
Accent on Aesthetics & Amenities, Connectivity,
Legibility, Natural Surveillance
Design Perspective Architecture/Planning

Node
Logistical Points Interchange for Parking, Bus,
Paratransit, Kiss-&-Ride, Taxi, Bikes, Scooters,
Pedestrians, Delivery Trucks
Conflict Points - Safety
Design Perspective Engineering

TOD Planning in Portland

50-year vision for
managing regions
growth

Hierarchy of
Transit-Oriented
Centers: compact,

mixed use, great

walking, civic spaces,
parking reforms

Planning for TOD: Building a Typology

Metro Portland

Stations
with highest
TOD Potential

High-capacity, high-quality
services that mimic urban
rail at a much lower cost

Exclusive Lanes: physical separation

Advanced Bus Technology: clean fuels, lightweight materials, low floors, advanced
communications, docking systems
Supportive Elements: signal priorities, bus
turnouts, curb realignments, AVL, automated
routing & dispatching, NextBUS
Expeditious Fare Collection & Boarding:
off-vehicle payment, smart cards

BRT: Flexible, Versatile, Fast-Action

Adelaide TGB/

O-Bahn

Brisbane

Busway

Bus Transits Flexibility

Advantages

Eliminating the Scourge

of Public Transportthe
dreaded Transferby
integrating line-haul & feeder
functions
Line
Residential Haul
Destination
Collection

Distribution

BRT Systems Worldwide (2013)

Source: BRTData.org

Average Weekday Riders per BRT Km among BRT Cities,

by Continent-Region, 2013 Source: BRTDATA.ORG

Center-Lane Station with

At-Grade Crossing, Quito

Bus Transit & Urban Development

Land-use impacts muted by:
Lower accessibility benefits (slower
speeds, stop-and-go)?
Non-permanence of investment?
Negative externalities?
Stigma?

Exception: Dedicated Busways/BRT

(. plus pro-active, forward-looking

planning)

Curitiba: BRT Transit Oriented Corridors

LINEAL
GROWTH

Trinary: High-Rise Mixed-Use Corridors

Tools:
Transit-Oriented Zoning Envelopes: mixed-use bonuses; TDR

New medium- to large-scale development has to be on Structural Axis

Urban Design Standards
Betterment Tax Financing

SURFACE METRO

Curitibas Multiple Service-Price Points

Compact, Mixed-Use,
Ped-Friendly Corridors
allow efficient 2-way travel flows

Mile

Curitiba Brasli
Transit trips/
capita/year*

334

95

VKT/capita/
year**

7,900

16,700
Brasli

* Confederao National do Transporte, 2002.

** E. Santos, 2011, Pioneer in BRT and Urban Planning,
Lambert Academic Press.

Curitiba

Low-Income Social Housing

removed from Curitibas
BRT corridors.
Source: Duarte and Ultramari, 2012

Following in Curitibas Footsteps:

So Paulo

Belo Horizonte

Latin American BRTs

Quito

Volvo

Bogot

Ciudad de Mxico

Len

The BRT Gold Standard

> 2 million riders per day
Bogots
TransMilenio
1995

BRT matching the Throughputs

of Metros: Dual Carriageways
2001

TransMilenio has (mostly) failed to sprawn TOD

Median-Lane Operations (Low-Cost Investment) has
likely suppressed TransMilenios City-Shaping Impacts

Poor Pedestrian Environments at Stations

Serves marginal neighborhoods

Bogota: Transformation of Station Areas, 1998-2011

Matched Pair Comparisons Americas Corridor
End Station Pairs

H. Suzuki, R. Cervero, K. Iuchi, 2013,

Transforming Cities with Transit, World
Bank.

Intermediate Station Pairs

Bogots Metrovivienda:
Affordable Housing & Mobility

Metrovivienda
Bundling low-cost
Housing & Transport

Free feeder
buses

TransMilenio
BRT

Bogots Transportation Demand Management

Auto-Restraints/Safe Pedestrian/Bike Corridors
Ciclovia
Car-Free Sundays

Before

After

BRT & TOD in Guangzhou

Seamless & Connected
Skywalks blend into
pedestrian network
Gentle grades/Landscaped
Links to 2nd floor retail
shops

Perpendicular Green Connectors

Integration of BRT station bridge &

building, with double-tier bike parking
under the bridge.
Public Bikes at Huajing Xincheng BRT
station. The bike lane is paved and separated by
a line of trees.

BRT-Metrorail Physical Integration

Global BRT Study: Implementation Tools and Barriers

R. Cervero and D. Dai, BRT TOD, 2014.

N = 27

BRT TOD Implementation Tools

Being Savvy
Land Value Benefits of TOD

Percent Increase
in Land Value

35
30
25
20

Land Value Premium in TODs

15
10
5

Station

Mile

Mile

Mile

Distance from Station

1 Mile

Commercial Land Value Impacts, Seoul Korea: Distance to BRT Stops

Before (2004)

After: 2005

U.S. BRT Systems & Urban Regeneration: (2 U.S. cities with biggest
population losses)

Pittsburgh East Busway: 9 miles;

2002: 60 new developments within
1500ft. of stations - $302 million in
value
63 Diesel-Electric
Hybrids

Removed 1 lane;
Funneled to parallel roads

Cleveland Euclid Ave. BRT: $200

million investment; $4.3 billion in
new development (Cleveland Clinic
- $1.2 billion expansion; Playhouse
Square; Entertainment District)
Midtown Mixed-Use
District; Zoning Overlays
36 stations; 4.5 miles dedicated BRT;
2.6 miles mixed-traffic

Close
Sustainable cities will never appear if the
Transport System is not sustainable
UN Habitat, Global Report, 2013.

Aims: Transit should be more than mobility

investments for relieving traffic congestion;
should exploit transits city-shaping
opportunities created by Rail/BRT; should
be an integral, upfront part of the system
planning, not an afterthought

Close

Visions & Planning Matter: Embrace pro-active

planning; 3Ds density, diversity, design (& break
up the LeCorbusier superblocks!)

Opportunities: Global South rapidly urbanizing,

modernizing & motorizing is where TOD holds most promise;
BRT TOD particularly promising. 2010-2030: 90% of urban
population growth (2 billion new urbanites) will be in nonOECD countries mostly cities 100K to 500K inhabitants
Supplement BRT/Transit Investments with TDM & AutoRestraint measures a Suite of Mobility Actions (upgrade
transit, cycling, walking; price, regulate, restrain private car uses)