Planning for Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Using a TOD Index

Abstract

Transit Oriented Development (TOD) is a planning approach for sustainable development and can reduce the need for private transport by making transit a better choice of commute. TOD plans have been drawn before for various places. The authors believe that planning for TOD can greatly benefit by comprehensive measurement of typical TOD characteristics using a TOD index that not only assesses existing TOD conditions at a place but also identifies those characteristics that need improvement. Such an assessment is crucial for drawing specific and more effective policies, programs and fiscal interventions required to plan for better TOD conditions. In this paper, the TOD index, its need, use and working has been elaborated. Traditionally, TOD planning is about improving ‘development’ around transit nodes, but this study works not only at the local level around transit nodes, but also expands to the regional level by suggesting improvements to ‘transit accessibility’ at the regional level. For both local and regional level, different TOD indices have been proposed and used. Measuring these TOD indices, as demonstrated in this paper, included measurement of various spatial and non-spatial indicators, Multiple-Criteria Assessment (MCA) and Spatial MCA (SMCA); and involvement of stakeholders and decision makers. This unique methodology is not only simple, transparent and back-traceable, but also repeatable for other areas, cities or regions.