Measuring the Neighborhood Benefits of Rail Transit Accessibility

Abstract

For many Americans, living near high-quality rail transit stations provides an array of benefits. The benefits arise from lower transportation expenses, changing development patterns, and other nonuse factors. Automobile-centered development patterns increase congestion, sprawl, and pollution. The benefits of transit-oriented neighborhoods are explored. A hedonic price function is used to estimate property values and the effect of proximity to rail transit stations. Geographical information system databases were used to calculate actual walking distances to transit, providing a much more accurate measure of the “proximity” variable than the usual measure of straight-line distance. The results indicate that proximity to rail transit stations can be a significant source of benefit to residents within walking distance. Whereas light rail transit stations in Portland, Oregon, indicate minimal effects, the magnitude of the benefits for the Bay Area Rapid Transit and New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority stations, when compared with standard measures of transit benefits, indicate that benefits from transit exceed those attributable to transit use.