TOD and Multi-modal Public Transport

Abstract

This article considers the role of transit-oriented development (TOD) in genuinely multi-modal public transport systems. In systems of this kind, railway stations are major interchange points with street-based public transport, which is frequently the dominant mode for station access. In such cases, TOD takes advantage of the very high level of accessibility provided by both the rail service and on-street feeder modes, in contrast with walk-on systems, where TOD is seen mainly as a way of expanding the number of walk-on patrons. Examples of both types of system are presented, including details of modal split for station access, and the importance of TOD in generating patronage is considered. The consequences for TOD planning and design are discussed, including trade-offs between park-and-ride patronage and TOD-generated patronage, and between commercial and transport benefits from TOD.

Keywords::

• transit-oriented development
• multi-modal
• public transport
• park-and-ride

Notes

^† Paul Mees began his career as a lawyer, but was always interested in transport planning issues. In 1992, he started a PhD, which he later turned into the book, A Very Public Solution: Transport in the Dispersed City. He also went on to write another critically acclaimed text, Transport for Suburbia: Beyond the Automobile Age. He ended up writing 15 refereed journal articles, 12 monographs and chapters in books, 37 conference papers, 17 selected publications and numerous opinion pieces for newspapers. Paul was a senior lecturer at The University of Melbourne and later became an associate professor at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. In March 2012, he was diagnosed with kidney cancer and died in June 2013. Paul had just turned 52.