PROFIT IMPLICATIONS OF JOINT DEVELOPMENT. THREE INSTITUTIONAL APPROACHES

This report provides selected information about the benefits and costs accruing to public transit authorities engaged in joint development and system interface projects in connection with the construction, reconstruction, or general improvement of rapid transit stations or bus and intermodal terminals. Such information should--because it clearly demonstrates the inherent profitability of such projects--provide clear incentive for those transit authorities that have yet to undertake them. Emphasis is placed on (1) the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) program because to date it is the most ambitious and successful in the country, and (2) on the Market Center Development Corporation of Baltimore (MCDC) program because, also ambitious and successful, it represents a strikingly different approach and philosophy. A review of the "profitability" of joint development programs is timely because of the expected shortfall of public funding for the extension of existing rapid transit systems and the proposed construction of new systems. According to the American Public Transit Association, over the next five years, 35 transit systems will have rail capital needs of more than $28 billion, about half for new construction, and half for rehabilitation of existing systems. Since this $28 billion capital requirement cannot nearly be met by traditional 75% federal funding, there must be a sharp increase in local funding. The thesis developed in this report is that even the relatively limited experience to-date with transit authority-administered joint development programs suggests that the dependable cash income flow potentially generated through time from such programs should properly be considered an indispensible means of helping to finance both the construction and operation of new systems.

• Corporate Authors:

  Keefer (Louis E) Associates

  2200 Columbia Pike
  Arlington, VA  United States  22204

  Urban Mass Transportation Administration

  Office of Planning, 400 7th Street, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Keefer, L E
• Publication Date: 1984-11

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References;
• Pagination: 49 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Cash flow; Finance; Financing; Joint development; Local government; Private enterprise; Profitability; Transit operating agencies
• Identifier Terms: Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Finance; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00392840
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: DOT-I-84-50 Final Rpt.
• Files: TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Mar 29 2003 12:00AM