Transportation Research Board

October 7, 2015

Cities Would Take Up 37 Percent More Space if It Were Not for Public Transit

The major benefits of public transportation are clear: riding the subway or bus is way cheaper than maintaing a car, and more often than not, it's a much faster means of getting from point A to point B. But as Streetsblog points out in this recent study by the Transportation Research Board, transit is a major of driver of density within a city, and it's something that incentivizes developers and city planners to put things closer together. While this may not be an earth-shattering revelation to you, if you quantify the effect, you just might be surprised. According to the report, U.S. cities on average would take up 37 percent more space to house current populations if it were not for public transit.
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