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Transit Street Design Guide Index

Transit Street Design Guide
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Introduction

Introduction

Transit is returning to its central place in the life of cities. With more people using buses, streetcars, and light rail than ever before, our street design paradigm is shifting to give transit the space it deserves. People are choosing to live, work, and play in walkable neighborhoods, and cities are prioritizing highly productive modes like transit as the key to efficient, sustainable mobility for growing urban populations. Transit agencies and street departments are working together to create streets that not only keep buses and streetcars moving, but are great places to be. Cities are extending light rail systems, investing in streetcar lines, and creating new rapid bus lines at a stunning pace, with ridership growing even faster in city centers. Transit agencies are rethinking their networks to serve neighborhoods at a high level all day, not just at commute times, while bike share and active transportation networks make it even easier to not only reduce driving, but to avoid the expense of owning a car.

At the heart of these changes is the need for cities to grow without slowing down. Transit is a key that unlocks street space, bringing new opportunities to create streets that can move tremendous numbers of people and be enjoyed as public spaces at the same time.

Cities around the country and around the world are finding new ways to create these places. To codify and advance best practices in transit design, the National Association of City Transportation Officials has brought together practitioners and leaders from the transit and street sectors to develop the Transit Street Design Guide. This new framework for designing transit corridors as public spaces will help cities and their residents work together to create the streets that are the foundation of a vibrant urban future.

Subsections:

Key Principles

Key Principles

A new set of principles to for designing streets that support, prioritize, and enable transit to be a powerful tool for access, mobility, and place-making.

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Why Transit Streets Matter

Why Transit Streets Matter

High-quality transit allows a city to grow without slowing down. Transit that can be relied on makes it possible to build walkable urban places—the kinds of places that city residents increasingly demand.

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Designing to Move People

Designing to Move People

Traditional volume measures fail to account for all the functions of urban streets, as well as the social, cultural, and economic activities served by transit, walking, and bicycling. Shifting trips to more efficient travel modes is essential to upgrading limited

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Reliability Matters

Reliability Matters

For urban transit, getting to a destination faster means removing sources of delay rather than raising top travel speeds. The most significant sources of delay are related to both design and operations, calling for coordinated action by transit and street

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Service Context

While street design practice has historically focused on motor vehicle movement and has treated transit capacity as primarily influenced by stop design, street design processes are increasingly recognizing that key transit lines need and justify greater accommodation than lower-ridership routes.

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Transit Route Types

Transit Route Types

Robust evidence-based service planning using realistic data can identify new service and growth opportunities, especially opportunities to add rapid routes. These can be supported by street design to create broader transit benefits.

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Transit Frequency & Volume

Transit Frequency & Volume

Street design has an interactive effect on transit frequency, both supporting transit at different volumes, and attracting passengers to different degrees.

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References

References for Introduction: 9 found.