Transit-friendly areas: The role of residential relocation and housing development in rail ridership over time

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) emphasizes the connection between land use and transportation in the rail station area indicating that residential relocation and housing development positively affected by rail accessibility have a significant impact on individual travel behavior. However, previous studies on rail-transit impacts failed to empirically examine this connection.; This dissertation thus examined the role of residential relocation and housing development in rail ridership, hypothesizing that these activities increase the use of rail transit over time. Empirical analyses were carried out for rail systems, excluding commuter rail lines, in California. These rail systems varied by year of inception: San Francisco (the first rail transit opened in 1972), San Diego (1981), Sacramento (1987), Santa Clara (1988), and Los Angeles (1990).; My dissertation supports the argument that rail ridership increases when it is positively associated with residential relocation and housing development. It also supports that the endogenous impact of the residential relocation to preexisting housing on rail ridership is realized relatively earlier than the new housing impact. In the Los Angeles rail station area where rail transit is relatively new, rail ridership increased because of residential relocation to preexisting housing. This means that workers who relocated their residences to preexisting housing within the rail station area have taken rail transit, instead of other transportation means. On the other hand, the activity of residential relocation to new housing is positively associated with rail ridership in the rail station areas with relatively older rail system such as in San Diego, Santa Clara, and San Francisco.