| Opinion - Friday, January 1, 2010
Letter: Transit-oriented development for BART extension?
Dear Editor,
MTC demands dense housing near new suburban rail transit stations, and calls it TOD -- transit oriented development. Real TOD, however, brings scads of surface parking there instead.
A number of cars, each with at least one transit user, fit in the space occupied by one dwelling unit. Don't forget occupant and guest parking spaces. From their home, transit riders can drive much farther than they can reasonably walk, greatly extending the station's service area. At their destination, fewer people have cars to drive.
As destination uses come, it is much easier to convert surface parking to structure parking and build mid- to high-rise there than it is to tear down dense residential. Thus, TOD for new BART extensions should bring ample surface parking and dense land uses other than residential.
Robert S. Allen
(BART director from 1974-1988) |
Send this story
Print this story
