Building Livable Communities with Transit: Planning, Developing, and Implementing Community-Sensitive Transit. (2006).
By the Federal Transit Administration
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA), through its Livable Communities Initiative (LCI), issued this manual to help local governments, transit agencies and transit planners address community concerns as they develop and enhance transit facilities, such as light rail stations. This LCI guide strongly emphasizes that transit planning should knit itself more closely to its community planning counterpart. A community-sensitive transit facility, for example, would include readily available customer information, provisions for a safe and secure environment, sufficient bike and pedestrian access, and architecture reflecting the values of the community. Using a five-step process for the development of transit facilities — metro planning, programming, project development, project implementation, and operations/maintenance — this manual suggests that active civic involvement should be sought at each phase. Active participation of the stakeholders, especially those traditionally underrepresented, will ensure the transit facility meets the needs and expectations of potential users.
The LCI has helped fund 21 projects across the country. Two examples are projects in Baltimore and Chicago. In Baltimore, the Maryland Transit Administration, using an LCI grant, built a child care center and police substation at the Reisterstown Road Metro Station Park and Ride. The station also received landscape improvements, covered walkways, and enhanced customer information. Similarly, at the Tech/35th Street Station along the Chicago Transit Authority’s Green Line, an LCI-funded project improved bus connections, added safety and security features and enhanced pedestrian walkways, among other improvements. The Building Livable Communities manual summarizes each of the LCI-supported projects in the appendices.