{"id":339060,"date":"2021-10-06T15:04:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-06T15:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcity.org\/daily\/entry\/more-transit-agencies-become-landlords"},"modified":"2021-10-06T15:04:00","modified_gmt":"2021-10-06T15:04:00","slug":"more-transit-agencies-become-landlords","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/10\/06\/more-transit-agencies-become-landlords\/","title":{"rendered":"More Transit Agencies Become Landlords"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
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An empty WMATA train in Washington, DC. Transit agencies that saw revenue and ridership plummet during the pandemic are doubling down on using their land as another revenue source. (Photo by nevermindtheend<\/a> \/ CC BY-NC-ND 2.0<\/a>)<\/p><\/figcaption>\n\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\n

Welcome to \u201cThe Mobile City,\u201d our weekly roundup of noteworthy transportation developments.<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\n\n\n

Transit Agencies in Search of Revenue Turn to the Land They Own<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Transit agencies are getting more aggressive about leasing land they own in order to generate revenue and build ridership, both of which have fallen in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, reports the Pew Charitable Trusts\u2019 Stateline<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe precipitous drop in ridership across the country during the pandemic really exposed the vulnerability of the agencies\u2019 funding because of the close tie with fare revenues,\u201d Paul Supawanich, an associate director at the National Association of City Transportation Officials, told Stateline. \u201cA lot of them are saying, \u2018How can we be creative and think about real estate development as an opportunity?\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that creative thinking is producing some very big real estate deals. The article notes that the Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority announced in August that it had signed a lease agreement with a group of developers who seek to build 1 million square feet of office, residential and retail space on land it owns near one of its Virginia stations, and New Jersey Transit Corporation is choosing a developer to turn 12 acres of land it owns in Woodbridge, near one of its busiest rail stations, into residences and commercial space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The article also notes that some agencies have been playing landlord to developers for years. The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) is one of them. In 2013, it established an office of transit-oriented development to exploit development opportunities around its stations. Today, the agency has 17 ground leases with developers who have built nearly 200,000 housing units, 2.6 million square feet of office space, 371,000 square feet of retail space and nearly 2,400 parking spaces, and 18 more projects are in development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MARTA spends $2 million a year to run its real estate department, which produces $6 million a year in ground rent. In recent years, it has shifted its focus to producing housing on its land. The agency\u2019s board mandates that 20 percent of the units it produces be affordable, and in projects in economically distressed neighborhoods, the agency aims for a 30 percent affordable ratio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baruch Feigenbaum, managing director of transportation policy at the Reason Foundation, told Stateline that the pandemic lit a fire under transit agencies that had previously been lukewarm at best about cashing in on the value of the land they own. \u201cThe pandemic added some new urgency. Now it\u2019s become something they\u2019re really focused on,\u201d he said. \u201cMany hadn\u2019t taken advantage of transit-oriented development as much as they could. They might have developed near one metro stop or part of the land, but not all of it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Northlake LRT Extension Opens in Seattle<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seattle\u2019s light metro system grew by three more stations Oct. 4, when the Sound Transit Northlake extension opened, My Ballard reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mostly-underground extension from the University of Washington station adds intermediate stations at University District and Roosevelt before climbing to an elevated structure to reach its terminus at Northlake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The extension is the last piece of the original light metro system Seattle-area voters approved in 1996 with a ballot measure that created Sound Transit and authorized a sales tax to help fund projects. It\u2019s also the first of several extensions slated to open over the next three years that will triple the light-rail network\u2019s route mileage from 22 to 62 and bring the system into Tacoma and Bellevue as well. These extensions are the product of the \u201cSound Transit 2\u201d sales tax that voters approved in 2008; a third sales tax approved in 2016 will bring total light metro mileage to 116 and extend the network to Everett.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a historic day and the start of three years that will transform how people get around our region,\u201d said Sound Transit Board Chair and University Place Council Member Kent Keel in a statement. \u201cNorthgate Link will let thousands of riders get to their destinations on time without sitting in horrendous traffic. We are able to celebrate this milestone thanks to support from Federal Transit Administration, our congressional delegation and the regional voters who approved building a world-class transit system for our growing communities.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Sound Transit, the $1.9 billion, 4.3-mile long extension came in about $50 million under budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York Governor Takes All Bets Off the Table Regarding LaGuardia Airtrain<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apparently, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is sympathetic to the critics who called on her to pull the plug on the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey\u2019s planned Airtrain connector to LaGuardia Airport (\u201cThe Mobile City,\u201d Sept. 8<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WPIX reports<\/a> that when Hochul was asked directly whether she thought the Airtrain project was a good idea, she replied:
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\n\u201cI\u2019m looking at all the options. The whole idea of looking at alternatives does not mean on the same day I\u2019m going to say which alternative I want. I don\u2019t feel obligated to accept what I\u2019ve inherited.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hochul has asked the Port Authority to conduct a thorough examination of alternative mass transit options to reduce car traffic and improve access to LaGuardia. Options include a busway and an extension of the N subway line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Critics have called the $2 billion Airtrain project the wrong solution to the problem, pointing out that it takes riders away from Manhattan before connecting with trains headed towards it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

North Tulsa Business Owners Make City Remove Bike Lanes; Chicago Could Use Them in Its Black Neighborhoods<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pine Street is a major east-west thoroughfare that crosses Tulsa\u2019s heavily Black north side, running about a mile north of the Greenwood business district. Last year, the city of Tulsa added two bike lanes to a four-mile stretch of the street, removing two lanes for cars in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, reports KTUL News Channel 8,<\/a> the city is undoing the change in response to complaints from business owners along the street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The retailers complained that the bike lanes increased congestion on the street and made it harder for their customers to reach their stores. In addition, said Paul Zachary, the city\u2019s director of engineering services, congestion around George Washington Carver Middle School, near the west end of the bike lanes, and at railroad crossings made it necessary for the city to \u201cdo something different\u201d and scrap the bike lanes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One local business owner, Mack\u2019s Wings owner Michael Manning, told KTUL that he considered the entire bike lane project a waste of tax dollars that could have been avoided had the city asked the residents. \u201cI certainly would wish that if they come up with any other bright ideas that they would make a conscious effort to poll the community,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Studies, however, have found that a lack of bike lanes is one factor in the disproportionate ticketing of Black cyclists. A study reported on in Streetsblog Chicago<\/a> found that Black riders get ticketed for riding bikes illegally far out of proportion to their share of the bike-riding population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study, titled \u201cBiking Where Black,\u201d was conducted by University of California, Davis professor Jesus Barajas. It found that tickets for riding on the sidewalk, which is illegal in Chicago for bike riders 12 and older, were issued eight times more often in the city\u2019s predominantly Black neighborhoods than in predominantly white ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barajas notes in his study that the citations are also a legal form of stop-and-frisk; the article notes that the Chicago Police Department has been upfront about using traffic enforcement as a way to enable searches for guns in high-crime neighborhoods. And the study also notes that the pattern of issuing citations bears no relation to where bicycle-pedestrian collisions actually occur: Those happen mainly in the more affluent white neighborhoods of the North Side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his report, Barajas writes, \u201cMany sidewalk cycling tickets would not have been issued if the infrastructure associated with improved safety perceptions were available. In this light, bicycle infrastructure might be seen as a tool to advance racial justice\u2026a small but important measure of protection from police overreach.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Know of a development that should be featured in this column? Send a Tweet with links to @MarketStEl using the hashtag #mobilecity.<\/em><\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t

Next City contributor Sandy Smith is the home and real estate editor at Philadelphia<\/em> magazine. Over the years, his work has appeared in Hidden City Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Inquirer<\/em> and other local and regional publications. His interest in cities stretches back to his youth in Kansas City, and his career in journalism and media relations extends back that far as well.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\n

This post was originally published on Next City<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\t\t\tAn empty WMATA train in Washington, DC. Transit agencies that saw revenue and ridership plummet during the pandemic are doubling down on using their land as another revenue source. (Photo by nevermindtheend \/ CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)<\/p>\n

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