Study: For Transit Proximity, Think Beyond a Half-Mile

A recent study suggests that people consider transit proximity to be more flexible than planners often allow.

1 minute read

January 13, 2015, 12:00 PM PST

Mars Infomage / Flickr

Eric Jaffe reports: "New research, set to be presented Monday at the 94th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, suggests that some cities indeed might be selling their TOD footprint short."

The study, led by Arthur Nelson of the University of Arizona, "analyzed the impact that proximity to a light rail station had on office rents in metropolitan Dallas," finding that "a quarter of the rent premium ('not a trivial amount,' they submit) extended nearly a mile away from transit."

"As expected, Nelson and company found that rent premiums decreased farther away from a DART station. A quarter of the premium disappeared after a quarter-mile, half disappeared at about .56 miles, and 75 percent had disappeared by .93 miles (below). But that means a quarter of the rent premium extended almost a full mile away from transit—and the researchers detected evidence of a premium as far away as 1.85 miles from light rail stations."

Jaffe explains of the implications of the study and mentions a previous study with similar findings in the full article, linked below.

FULL STORY: What Does Living 'Close' to Transit Really Mean?

Tuesday, January 13, 2015 in CityLab

Land Use Transportation Urban Development United States Colorado Half-Mile Circle Last Mile Academic Studies Transit Oriented Development View More

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