Thursday, September 22, 2022 @ 12:00 PM (ET)
About this Webinar
Transit ridership across the US has experienced a continued decline. Researchers, policy-makers and advocates have suggested that transportation and land use policies be modified to encourage transit-friendly environments. Using several novel longitudinal station-level datasets generated from Google Street View and other sources, this presentation examines whether changes to the built and social environment around transit stations help explain observed changes in transit ridership. We focus on 897 stations qualifying as “transit oriented” between 2010 and 2018. Following a before-and-after experimental design with controls we find that efforts by land use and transit planners to develop strategies to modify station areas to support higher transit ridership have been insufficient in maintaining transit ridership. We summarize other potential explanation and discuss their implications for policy and planning.
About the Presenters
Daniel A. Rodriguez is Chancellor’s Professor and Co-Chair of the Department of City and Regional Planning, and Interim Director of the Institute for Transportation Studies, at the University of California, Berkeley. Rodriguez’s research examines the reciprocal relationship between mobility and land development, and the health and environmental consequences that follow. Working with colleagues in multiple disciplines he has studied how changes to the physical attributes of urban environments – the location of rail lines, trails, and neighborhood land uses– results in changes in individual behavior, health, and air quality. His work also examines how cities can encourage development that is healthier and affordable. He is committed to encouraging a north-south dialogue about innovative and sustainable active transportation and urban policies.
Meiqing Li is a doctoral candidate in city and regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research explores the intersection of sustainable transportation, travel behavior, and built environment in the United States and Asia.
