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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 1 - Introduction." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2012. Guidelines for Providing Access to Public Transportation Stations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14614.
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 1 - Introduction." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2012. Guidelines for Providing Access to Public Transportation Stations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14614.
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Page 2
Page 3
Suggested Citation:"Chapter 1 - Introduction." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2012. Guidelines for Providing Access to Public Transportation Stations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14614.
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Page 3
Page 4
Suggested Citation:"Chapter 1 - Introduction." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2012. Guidelines for Providing Access to Public Transportation Stations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14614.
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Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

1 This report presents guidelines for providing access to rapid transit stations, describes a station access planning process, and provides a high-level station access planning tool. The guidelines, process, and planning tool are based on a detailed review of available literature and transit agency practices, as well as case studies conducted during the course of the research. The materials are intended to aid the many groups involved in planning, developing and improving station access. These groups include public transportation and highway agencies, planners, developers, and affected citizens. The guidelines and planning tool cover access to transit stations for high-capacity transit services, including commuter rail, heavy rail transit, light rail transit, and bus rapid transit. These services are considered as “rapid transit” in the discussion throughout the guide. Background Access to rapid transit service in the early years of the twentieth century was mainly as pedestrians. Stations were closely spaced (one-quarter to one-half mile), enabling passengers to easily reach stations. Over the years, bus transit access—usually on intersecting streets—became common in older rapid transit systems. Several systems have free or low-cost transfers to the rapid transit lines. Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) emerged around many stations. Extensive suburbanization in post–World War II America resulted in low-density development surrounding the central city. Rapid transit development—both along older rapid transit lines (i.e., “legacy” lines) and new lines—involved wider station spacing (one to two miles) and higher line-haul speeds. Station access became more complex and was increasingly dominated by auto- mobile access and large park-and-ride facilities. Key Issues Several issues underlie contemporary rapid transit station access planning: • What is the best way or “process” for station planning and development? • Which groups should be included in this planning process? • What travel modes should be accommodated? • How do development densities and land use patterns affect the use of various access modes? • How can station ridership and access modes use be estimated? • What are the likely effects of parking on station ridership? • How can the sometimes-differing concerns of transit agencies and communities be addressed? • How do access issues vary between mature and new stations? C H A P T E R 1 Introduction

2 Guidelines for Providing Access to Public Transportation Stations • How should pedestrian, bicycle, transit, and auto access be integrated into the site plan for the station and its environs? • What guidelines underlie the provisions of park-and-ride? When are garages preferable to surface parking? • What provisions should be made for TOD and integrating station access with the surrounding neighborhoods? • Under what circumstances are feeder bus services likely to provide a cost-effective means of providing station access? • What are ways to maximize access at constrained stations? General Guidelines Following are general guidelines on providing access to transit stations. These are described in greater detail in various chapters of this report. • Providing access to rapid transit stations should be a cooperative effort by the transit, street transportation, and planning agencies, as well as the surrounding community. The transit agency should be proactive in this effort. • Station access plans should result from comprehensive and cooperative planning processes that identify needs and opportunities and lead to effective and accepted results. • Station access generally should be multi-modal. • The predominant access travel modes depend upon type of land use, street spacing, and development density, among other factors (see Exhibit 1-1). Walking dominates station access in the city center and in contiguous high-density residential areas. Both walking and bus access are the main means of reaching stations within the central city. Suburban stations are typically serviced by autos, buses, and pedestrians. Exhibit 1-1 provides only a summary of key factors related to access; many other factors also affect the mix of access modes at a given station (e.g., network connectivity). Chapter 4 provides detailed information on the different types of transit stations and the various factors that typically affect access. • Improvements to station access should consider the planned build-out of the station area so as not to conflict with or inhibit future planning. Location Type Typical Distance from City Center (miles) Typical Net Residential Density (people/sq. mi.) Primary Arrival Modes1 Central Business District 0 – 2 NA Pedestrian Central City 2 – 10 8,000 – 20,000 PedestrianBus Inner Suburbs 10 – 15 4,000 – 6,000 Park-and-RideBus Outer Suburbs 15 – 25 2,500 – 4,000 Park-and-Ride Exurbia Over 25 Varies Park-and-Ride 1 Primary arrival modes indicate how the majority of riders access the station, although most stations will attract at least some from all access modes. Exhibit 1-1. Land use and development density.

Introduction 3 • Since there are variations in land use and density, more specific guidance is necessary. Accordingly, a 12-station typology based on eight factors is provided to guide station access decisions. • TOD in the station environs may be fostered when warranted by market considerations, but should be balanced with the need to provide adequate parking near stations to sustain ridership. • Development adjacent to stations should feature transit-oriented design characteristics (e.g., pedestrian-friendly, direct transit access from local land uses) to maximize ridership potential. • Pedestrian circulation should form the foundation of the station access plan. Transit passengers walk between home and bus stops, between bus stops and station entrances, and between parking facilities and station entrances. They then walk through the station to the rail or bus platforms. Each step of this trip should be convenient and safe. • Specific station, site, roadway, and parking plans should conform to established standards of transit and highway agencies. However, flexibility in design requirements may allow for more efficient use of space in constrained situations (e.g., smaller width parking spaces to increase parking capacity at high demand stations). Organization of the Guidelines This guide contains two basic sections. Part I covers planning, while Part II covers design. Part I, Rapid Transit Station Planning, has four chapters: Chapter 2 provides a detailed eight-step planning process for station planning. Chapter 3 provides specific lessons learned from research case studies to improve the effective- ness of the planning process. Chapter 4 sets forth a station typology, provides information on station boarding and arrival volumes and access modes, and provides guidance for establishing policy for station mode of access. Chapter 5 presents techniques for estimated travel demand in terms of station boards by mode and introduces the station access planning tool. Part II, Rapid Transit Station Access Arrangement and Design, provides guidelines for arranging and integrating various station design elements: Chapter 6 overviews station arrangement and design, and provides general guidelines for improving station access. Chapter 7 presents guidelines for enhancing pedestrian access to, from, and within station areas. Chapter 8 offers guidance relating to bicycle access. Chapter 9 contains guidance for improving feeder transit access. Chapter 10 covers park-and-ride locations and arrangements to stations. Chapter 11 discusses TOD and its relation to station access and parking. Appendices The appendices provide detailed additional information: Appendix A summarizes the stakeholder surveys and literature review that formed a basis for the guidance provided in this report;

4 Guidelines for Providing Access to Public Transportation Stations Appendix B provides an overview of existing analysis tools related to transit station access; Appendix C, which is available electronically as an attachment to the report, presents a spreadsheet-based station analysis tool for assessing various station access alternatives and instructions for use. Appendix C offers detailed instructions on using the tool, which is avail- able on a CD accompanying the report and online at www.trb.org/Main/Blurbs/166516.aspx. Appendix D includes a summary of existing data related to transit access collected as part of the research project, including access mode share characteristics for example stations throughout the United States; and Appendix E contains detailed descriptions of the project’s case studies. Future Research Needs The case studies clearly pointed to the lack of industry tools available for station mode of access planning. This research developed a station access planning tool (Appendix C) that pro- vides the first industry tool designed specifically to evaluate the trade-offs between transit station access modes. The following two areas have been identified as the most critical for additional research: 1. Predictive models are important to answer critical “if/then” questions in support of station access planning (e.g., to predict ridership for an access mode or parking response to pricing changes). Several transportation agencies use proprietary models, usually developed by con- sultants. Traditional models used for regional transportation planning may not be sufficiently sensitive or detailed enough to evaluate station access mode options. This is a critical gap in available tools, particularly given the important role that station access services play in the success of major capital investment in rapid transit systems. Development of a state-of-the-art package of station access planning models could be a good research project. 2. Comprehensive evaluation tools are used to predict outcomes of various access-related actions. Few transit agencies have objective tools to estimate parking demand, the effect of TOD on ridership, and cost-effectiveness of feeder buses. The evaluation tool developed through this project is a reasonable staring point, but it can be refined and enhanced as agencies begin to apply it to real-world challenges. Developing such tools could be accomplished through a TCRP research project. Note that the accuracy of such tools in practice will likely rely on good input data from individual transit agencies.

Next: Chapter 2 - Station Access Planning Tools and Process »
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TRB’s Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Report 153: Guidelines for Providing Access to Public Transportation Stations is intended to aid in the planning, developing, and improving of access to high capacity commuter rail, heavy rail, light rail, bus rapid transit, and ferry stations. The report includes guidelines for arranging and integrating various station design elements.

The print version of TCRP Report 153 is accompanied by a CD-ROM that includes a station access planning spreadsheet tool that allows trade-off analyses among the various access modes--automobile, transit, bicycle, pedestrian, and transit-oriented development--for different station types. The appendices to TCRP Report 153 are also available on the CD-ROM.

The items contained in the CD-ROM are also available for download below.

In 2009 TRB released TCRP Web-Only Document 44: Literature Review for Providing Access to Public Transportation Stations, which describes the results of the literature review associated with the project that developed TCRP Report 153.

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