California’s Transit Village Movement

Abstract

Transit villages—dense, mixed-use communities near rail stops—could increase rail ridership and reduce automobile dependency; however, few good examples exist in the US. today. Barriers to building transit villages include questionable market viability, conservative lending practices, and neighborhood opposition to multi-family housing. This paper shows, however, that there is a reasonably strong market demand for well-designed transit-oriented neighborhoods. After viewing visual images of simulated transit villages, more respondents from the San Francisco Bay Area expressed a willingness to live in a moderately dense community with nice amenities than in one with a third lower densities but little neighborhood open space or consumer services. Many current occupants of transit-based housing in California are young professionals living in one or two person households with just one car. What most distinguishes tenants of transit-based housing is their tendency to work in downtowns and other locations well-served by rail transit. The demand for good quality housing near rail has allowed some rail-served apartments in the Bay Area to command rent premiums. Strong market interest in rail-based housing, coupled with recent state enabling legislation, bode favorably for the future of transit villages in California.