This morning, I had the privilege of hearing an excellent presentation by Ms. Dena Belzer, President of Strategic Economics entitled, An Introduction to TOD and the Relationship Between Transit and Economic Development. During her presentation Ms. Belzer made the following important points about transit-oriented development (TOD), which would be applicable to cities across the country:

TOD consists of three components: T = transit frequency and usefulness; O = orienting infrastructure for making pedestrian/bicycle connections between transit and development; and D = development featuring a mix of uses and densities whether old or new.

TOD builds value by increasing non-auto access to a range of places and by providing neighborhoods and districts with other existing values or market strengths.

Access to dense employment nodes provides ridership and value.

Employment nodes drive transit ridership, not residential nodes.

Employment dispersion makes it more difficult for transit to serve commuters.

The four most likely industries to contribute to fixed transit like rail, light rail, and bus rapid transit are (most to least):

Government Knowledge based Education/Medical Entertainment

The four lease likely industries to contribute to fixed transit (least to most):