University of California Transportation Center

Can form follow transit? Can transit restructure urban form? What types of policy measures can direct such restructuring? These questions are increasingly asked today as the initial ridership of new transit developments remains limited. If it can be shown that investment in urban infrastructure stimulates development along transit corridors, particularly around stations, which in turn contributes to increased ridership, a self inducing effect of transit development can be claimed. In the dispersed urban form typical of California cities, justification of fixed-rail transit systems must depend on this logic. Intuitively, it is not an unreasonable presumption.