On the Right Track

1
On the Right Track

• Meeting Greater Bostons
• Transit and Land Use Challenges
• May 17, 2006

2
Transportation Priorities Task Force

• Goal was to bring new voices into the
  conversation about transit policy and investment
• Catalyst was March 2005 release of a draft state
  transportation plan
• Report and recommendations are authored by ULI
  Boston, not the Task Force

3
Re-framing the IssueTransit Economic
Development

• This report views the MBTA transit system as a
  regional asset and critical piece of economic
  development infrastructure that anchors regional
  efforts to increase housing production, create
  jobs, grow smart and embrace diversity and
  inclusion.

4
Why Transit? The New Housing-Transportation Cost
Trade-Off

• To moderate high housing costs, the pattern has
  been to move to affordability
• Factoring in both housing and transportation
  costs, however, living farther out may not lower
  total costs
• The calculus governing this housing-transportation
  cost trade-off may be changing and the reason is
  gas prices

5
Why Transit? The Future Demographics of Metro
Boston
Source MetroFuture
6
A Rapid Transit System
A Network of Great Places
7
A Commuter Rail System
A Network of Great Places
8
Transit-Oriented Development in Metropolitan
Boston

• Transit Oriented Development is compact,
  walkable development centered around transit
  stations that includes a mix of uses (such as
  housing, shopping employment and recreational
  facilities) within a design that puts a high
  priority on serving transit and pedestrians.

• In the City of Boston development pipeline
• Over 9,000 housing units
• More than 23 million square feet of mixed-use
  development
• In greater Boston excluding the City of Boston
  (including recently-built projects)
• Over 15,000 housing units
• More than 12 million square feet of mixed-use
  development

9
Summary of Recommendations
Transit Supportive Growth Station area
housing Role of cities and towns Developers and
TOD
All stake- holders work together on land use
and transit challenges
A Financially Stable MBTA Debt Relief Transit-orie
nted development Ridership growth and service
quality
Strategic Investment Expansion Coordinated
transit planning Land use evaluation
criteria Financing strategies
10
Transit Supportive Growth

• A majority of housing units built in greater
  Boston during the next decade should be
  concentrated near existing and planned transit
  stations
• Cities and towns should plan and permit
  transit-oriented development to generate more
  riders and revenues for the T
• Developers should collaborate with the T and
  communities to produce both more and better
  transit-oriented development

11
A Financially Stable MBTA

• The MBTA, as currently structured and funded,
  cannot support the regions current or future
  transit and development needs.
• The Commonwealth should therefore relieve the
  MBTA of the responsibility for paying off bonds
  that were issued to fund transit projects
  undertaken before forward funding took effect
  in 2000.

12
The burden of prior debt . . .
13
Remains an issue for many years
Source MBTA
14
A Financially Stable MBTA

• Transit agencies are not just about running
  trains and busesthey are also in the business of
  creating markets that will fill those trains and
  buses, largely through cutting deals with private
  developers to build trip-generation near train
  stops.
• Source Cervero et al (2002)

• The MBTA must create more potential passengers by
  supporting transit-oriented development in areas
  around its stations and joint development of its
  real estate holdings
• The MBTA must focus on both ridership growth and
  service quality to transform these potential
  customers into transit riders

15
What Do They Have in Common?

• Community development corporations in Roxbury,
  Dorchester, Mattapan and Hyde Park
• City of Lynn
• Longwood Medical Area institutions
• Developer of CitySquare in Worcester (along with
  the city of Worcester)

• Cities of Fall River and New Bedford
• Harvard University
• Developer of Assembly Square in Somerville (along
  with the city of Somerville)

16
Strategic Investment and Expansion

• From a regional economic development perspective,
  a moratorium on transit enhancement and expansion
  projects is not an option
• It is past time for the Commonwealth to establish
  a clear timetable and framework under which
  transit investment priorities will be established
  and implemented

17
Strategic Investment and Expansion

• The Secretary of Transportation should coordinate
  with the MBTA, metropolitan planning
  organizations and regional planning agencies to
  reach consensus on a transit investment strategy
  for the Commonwealth
• Transportation planning agencies should
  prioritize transportation investments based on
  criteria that recognize the importance of land
  use objectives such as housing production and
  transit-oriented development
• EOT, the MBTA, cities and towns and developers
  need to identify new ways to finance transit
  expansion projects