By Willa Brown, USCM Intern
July 26, 2004

As the first generation of Transportation-Oriented Development (TOD) projects across the country are growing up, Hank Dittmar and Gloria Ohland have taken a much-needed look at the current state and hopeful future of TOD. The New Transit Town: Best Practices in Transit Oriented Development serves as a guide to modern TOD by outlining obstacles and goals for TOD, as well as providing case studies of systems already in place.

With soaring housing costs, metropolitan families, especially those in the lowest income brackets, are spending almost 60 percent of their after-tax income on housing and transportation. At the same time, cities are challenged by seemingly unstoppable congestion. One answer to both these problems is Transit Oriented Development (TOD.) TOD works to create revitalized, mixed-income, livable neighborhoods based around transit options, cutting transit costs for families as well as relieving congestion.

The New Transit Town takes a middle-ground approach to TOD, arguing that while it is an integral part of the toolkit for building a healthy, modern metropolitan area, it is not the final panacea of metropolitan development. The streetcar suburbs of the early twentieth century, they point out, cannot, and perhaps should not, return. Instead, TOD should be integrated into existing metropolitan corridors to work alongside highway systems and autos.

The first chapters of the book, each written by contributing experts, outline the main obstacles and goals of TOD. These clearly written and very readable essays discuss problems associated with zoning, competing interests of consumers, governments and developers and the challenge of finding financing. There is also a chapter devoted to the connection between highway transportation and transit, including the overbearing difficulty of integrating park and ride systems with a pedestrian-friendly development.

Most interesting are the case studies of Atlanta, Dallas, San Diego, and San Jose. The case studies put TOD into context, detailing the complex process of integrating new transit into established communities. Perhaps the most important parts of the case studies are the "lessons learned" segments at the end of the chapters. These segments provide concise summaries of the successes and failures of each case that are applicable to any new TOD project.

This thorough report comes at a critical moment for TOD. It has been a decade since the first projects began, and many new TOD projects are in the works. As developers and governments tackle the problems of urban housing cost and congestion, The New Transit Town is a vital and convincing argument for the use of TOD as well as a useful guide for its implementation.