Market trends favor transit
A Streetsblog report on Rail-Volution conference covered market trends favoring transit:
According to SRI (Southeastern Research Institute) research, eight out of 10 people want to live green. (Their behavior, of course, may not meet that aspiration). Many report taking more eco-conscious actions now than they did three years ago. “Where this is headed is, 20 years from now, we’ll be in a post-carbon city stage,” Martin said. “We’re going to be designing cities around green transportation, and carbon units — auto units — will be phased out. We’re going to compete in economic development language against other cities in how green we are.”
There is conflicting data on this. Since the economic crash, fewer Americans think that the protecting the environment is a top government priority (55 percent compared to 65 percent in 2004, according to a National Association of Realtors poll). Nevertheless, more people want to "live green," according to this expert. Another recent poll said that 83 percent of Americans think that global warming is real, up from 75 percent the year before. One way to read this data is that green issues are continuing to take hold, but in the current economy jobs are the highest priority. Leaving aside economic arguments for transit and sustainable communities, these concepts will increasingly resonate with the American people based on green premises.
Back at Rail-Volution, Martin also reported on the generational shift in favor transit. The Baby Boom generation, which mostly wants to age in place rather than move to a suburban retirement community, will demand better transit service, he said. Furthermore:
Gen Y is inclined to transit, too. “Gen Y is much less car centric than other generations,” Martin pointed out. Compared to their elders, folks born between 1982 and 1994 are less eager to get a drivers license, less inclined to purchase a car and less likely to view automobile ownership as a right of passage to adulthood. ... Gen Y isn’t looking for a dream home; they’re looking for a dream lifestyle and that includes walkable, bikeable, transit-oriented neighborhoods.
There's no conflicting data on that: Demographic trends will continue to drive demand for transit and transit-oriented development.
For more in-depth coverage on this topic:
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• See the September 2011 issue of New Urban News. Topics: Walk Score, sprawl retrofit, livability grants, Katrina Cottages, how to get a transit village built, parking garages, the shrinking Wal-Mart, Complete Streets legislation, an urban capital fund, and much more.
• See the July-August 2011 issue of New Urban News. Downtown makeover, agrarian urbanism, bike sharing, bike-ped issues, TIGER III livability grants, unlocking remnant land value, selling the neighborhood, Landscape Urbanism vs. New Urbanism, new urban resort, granny flats, The Great Reset.
• See the June 2011 issue of New Urban News. Mid-rise living, elevated walkways, Jane Jacobs and observational urbanism, Affordable transit-oriented development, the coming housing calamity, rental and TOD to dominate market, New Town in bankruptcy, regional approach for high-speed rail, the civic costs of sprawl, redevelopment of mall
• See the April-May 2011 issue of New Urban News. Transit-oriented development, “Cycle tracks,” gentrification versus revitalization, HUD grants, economic silver linings, light rail development, pocket neighborhoods, Close-in Maryland housing less expensive, transit outperforms green buildings, Charter Awards, shift to smaller stores
