Is There a Modal Bias to the Transit-Orientation of Urban Development?

This study investigates the extent to which urban development around Melbourne’s transit stop/station catchments is intrinsically like transit oriented development (TOD). A TOD score is developed for catchment land use of trams, trains, SmartBus, local bus routes and no transit areas. Hypotheses tested were that the extent of transit-orientation varies with mode, and that tram is associated with development that is more ‘transit-oriented’ than other modes, notably bus. A census profile for each stop/station catchment was developed. A multi-criteria index, the TOD score, was developed to quantify the transit-orientation of the built environment in terms of walkability (design), land use entropy (diversity) and population density. TOD score was regressed on explanatory variables including mode, to test the above hypotheses. Results show that development in catchments of train, tram and local bus were more transit-oriented than those without transit. However SmartBus catchments showed no significant effect on TOD score compared to areas of no transit provision. The TOD Score of tram catchments was higher than that of bus and rail, suggesting that the development around tram nodes is more transit-oriented confirming the first study hypothesis. However, once proximity to the central business district was incorporated into the analysis, no significant variation was apparent between local buses and trains compared to tram catchments. Result suggests that there is no modal bias in the transit orientation of stop/station catchments once close proximity of tram catchments to the CBD is considered. The paper identifies policy implications and areas for future research.

  • Supplemental Notes:
    • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AP025 Standing Committee on Public Transportation Planning and Development.
  • Corporate Authors:

    Transportation Research Board

    500 Fifth Street, NW
    Washington, DC  United States  20001
  • Authors:
    • Aston, Laura
    • Currie, Graham
    • Pavkova, Katerina
  • Conference:
  • Date: 2016

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Media Type: Digital/other
  • Features: Figures; Maps; References; Tables;
  • Pagination: 15p
  • Monograph Title: TRB 95th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01589125
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Report/Paper Numbers: 16-0455
  • Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
  • Created Date: Feb 1 2016 9:27AM