Transit-Oriented Development

What is Transit-Oriented Development?

Transit-oriented development, or TOD, means urban areas designed to give people access to safe and reliable public transit. TOD helps to bring residential, commercial, and recreational spaces together, with safe and easy walking and cycling connections and high-quality public transit service. This type of development gives people the option to make the best choice for each trip, such as walking or cycling for short distances, public transit for further areas in the city, and, if necessary, a car for longer distances to more spread out areas. 

Example of a TOD street with dense, mixed-use developments, bike lanes, and safe sidewalks.

Principles of TOD

  1. Walkability: Walking around and to essential destinations is safe, comfortable, and stimulating.

  2. Bikabilty: Efficient and quick cycling travel is protected, safe, and convenient.

  3. Connectivity: Walking and cycling routes are short, direct, and connected.

  4. Transit: Safe, accessible, and affordable public transit system

  5. Mixed uses: Essential services and housing opportunities are available locally to households of all sizes and incomes.

  6. Density: Enough people live nearby to sustain local services and local employment options.

  7. Compactivity: Travel outside the neighborhood takes less time and fewer resources to reach key destinations.

  8. People-focused: Space for motor vehicles is reduced to promote play, interaction, and health of citizens.

Our Goal

Our goal is to provide people with high-quality public transit and plan for a shift away from a city-wide reliance on cars. This goal can be accomplished by: 

  1. Increasing the availability of public transportation for everyone

  2. Encouraging transit ridership with easier, safer, and more practical public transit

  3. Increasing density along major corridors

  4. Building transit-supportive development around transit stops

  5. Expanding connectivity and providing more options for alternative ways to get around

Importance of TOD

Benefits of TOD

  1. Greater mobility: Access to safe, high-quality public transportation and pedestrian and bike-friendly paths provide more people the opportunity to get where they need to be.

  2. Reduced sprawl: Sprawl and low density are harmful and unsustainable. They lead to increased car reliance resulting in more greenhouse gas emissions. TOD’s higher density reduces sprawl as it can sustain more people in a smaller area.

  3. Reduced greenhouse gas emissions: Transit-oriented communities averaged 17 to 25.5 vehicle miles traveled (VMT) per household and 16-25 lbs of daily carbon output per household, compared to regional averages of 45 VMT and 69.4 lbs daily carbon output.

  4. Reduced traffic congestion: With more people riding public transit and fewer people driving cars, TOD has reduced annual household rates of driving by 20 percent to 40 percent for those living, working, and/or shopping near transit stations.

  5. New investments: TOD helps attract entrepreneurs and businesses which creates jobs, and increases local spending, and tax revenues.

  6. Reduces household spending on transportation: Some estimates show household savings on transportation of $3000-$4000 per year.

  7. Greater access to jobs: Access to quality transportation services can significantly improve employment access by helping solve the issue of “spatial mismatch," where urban residents are isolated from relevant employment centers.

  8. Increased foot traffic for businesses: TOD encourages more pedestrians and increases foot traffic for local businesses, which improves sales and local spending.

  9. Healthy lifestyle: Transit users are 3.5 times more likely to achieve or exceed the target amount of walking per day, as compared to people who do not use public transit.

  10. Community: TOD’s higher density fosters community by bringing people from different socio-economic backgrounds together in mixed-income neighborhoods, and encourages social interaction and community engagement.

  11. Reduced car accidents and injuries: The per capita traffic casualty rate in TOD communities is about a fifth of that of automobile-oriented communities.

Negative Effects of Car Dependency

Car dependency is the concept that existing and planned infrastructure prioritizes the use of cars over other modes of transportation. For over 70 years, car dependency has been a defining feature of America’s transportation systems, with zoning regulations like minimum parking requirements, highway infrastructure without pedestrian crossing access, lack of bike lanes, and little investment in public transportation. Car dependency has many negative consequences for the community, the environment, and local businesses.  

1. Equity: Car-dependent infrastructure is discriminatory against people who can’t drive, such as the poor, the young, the elderly, and the disabled. These groups struggle daily to get where they need to go, often relying on friends or family to escort them, depending on mobility services, or walking, cycling, or taking public transit in environments not suited for these types of transportation. 

2. Cost for cities, business owners, and individuals: Cities are forced to increase taxes or cut services to upgrade roads, install traffic lights, and build highways and interchanges to address congestion. Additionally, businesses in car dependent areas are often required to build parking lots and pay for landscaping upkeep. Individuals living in car-dependent environments pay more in taxes and for owning a car. 

3. Harm to public health and safety: Cars are dangerous for everyone, including drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists. On average there are over 6 million car accidents in the U.S. every year and more than 38,000 car-related deaths. Unsurprisingly, car usage can also be attributed to negative health outcomes, as car travel requires less physical activity than walking. Finally, the health effects of air pollution caused by vehicle exhausts include an increased risk of cancer and respiratory, and cardiovascular diseases. 

4. Pollution: Cars are a major contributor to climate change and emit large amounts of greenhouse gases. Transportation was responsible for 28% of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. in 2022, with cars (not including trucks) accounting for 57% of greenhouse gas emissions among all modes of transportation.  

Traffic congestion caused by car-dependency

Growing Demand for TOD

In recent years, the demand for transit-oriented development has been growing nationwide.

  1. Traffic congestion has been a major issue that cities have been trying to solve for many years. Attempts to alleviate the issue have included the construction of more lanes and roads, which has almost always led to more sprawl and even more congestion. The growing distaste for traffic congestion and suburban sprawl has caused a growing appetite for more design oriented around different transportation modes.

  2. There are many concerns about the quality of life, safety, and environmental implications caused by car dependency, thus increasing the demand for communities with more transit-oriented development. 

  3. Quickly growing demographic groups are also helping to fuel the demand for TOD. Older, non-family, and ethnically diverse households have historically preferred higher-density housing near transit. Additionally, younger generations have shown a demand for TOD with a preference for active lifestyles that don’t require driving, proximity to restaurants, and other urban amenities.

Implementation

Lexington’s Progress

Lexington has already made some progress toward implementing TOD.

2023 Urban Growth Management (UGM) ZOTA: In August 2023, the Planning Commission for Lexington-Fayette County unanimously approved the UGM ZOTA. This ZOTA will eliminate parking requirements, establish bicycle parking standards, and mitigate the environmental impacts of parking lots with an increase in the required tree canopy and lighting restrictions. In Ottawa, eliminating parking minimums was the factor attributed most to their successful TOD.

Lextran: Lextran provides coverage within its existing fixed-route service area, which generally encompasses the urban services area. Over half of the population residing within the Urban Services Area (USA) is located within a quarter-mile of a bus stop and more than three-quarters of the population is within a half-mile of a bus stop.

Imagine Nicholasville Road: Imagine Nicholasville Road is a study of one of Lexington’s major corridors and has many plans to support TOD, such as plans for Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), dedicated bike and pedestrian facilities, and future redevelopment of large parking lots and underutilized shopping centers. Lexington has made significant progress and has many plans that show the feasibility of implementing TOD in Lexington. 

The Hub: Lexington already has some form of TOD, such as the Hub student housing developments. The Hub developments are mixed-use residential buildings with no surface parking and direct access to bus stops. The Hub on South Limestone has 220,184 square feet of residential space and 11,198 square feet of retail space on the ground floor.

The Hub apartments in Lexington

Similar Cities with Successful TODs

Ottawa: The Ottawa Transitway is perhaps the most successful busway in North America. In a city of 800,000 people, daily ridership is estimated to be 240,000. The success of the Ottawa Transitway can be attributed to reducing required parking and increasing density around transit stops, which incentivizes the use of public transit. Ottawa’s design follows many North American urban planning themes that are also prevalent in Lexington, such as suburban sprawl, downtown cores, and major roadways used to connect outlying areas with the city center. The similarities between Lexington and Ottawa show the possibility of TOD in Lexington.

Madison, WI: Madison is a similar city to Lexington in terms of size and city design. Both cities feature a mix of urban and suburban development, commercial corridors that connect the suburban areas with the downtown core, and a mix of radial and grid-like street design. Metro Transit in Madison operates bus services throughout the city and its outlying suburbs; with annual ridership of 9,514,620 in 2023. Additionally, in 2019 Madison was ranked 5th in U.S. cities with the best public transit. Madison recently launched their BRT system in September 2024, with specialized bus lanes, dedicated bus stations, and fast and frequent operations. Madison is a perfect example of the possibility of TOD and BRT for smaller cities such as Lexington.

Resources for Implementation

The World Bank Group Transit-Oriented Development Implementation Resources & Tools

Provides additional resources and a comprehensive TOD Framework to organize the tools and resources needed to ensure a simple initiation, design, and evolution process. The TOD Framework contains a 5 step cyclical process that provides decision-makers a step-by-step process required for implementing a realistic TOD plan adaptable to local conditions, capacities, and resources available. 

Pilot Program for Transit-Oriented Development Planning

The Pilot Program for TOD Planning helps support the Federal Transportation Administration’s mission of improving America’s communities through public transportation by providing funding to local communities to integrate land use and transportation planning with a new fixed guideway or core capacity transit capital investment.

This page was designed and written by a student intern, August Morris. As a senior at STEAM Academy, August interned with Lexington’s City Planning Division from August to December, researching and writing about Transit-Oriented Development.