Developing and Implementing the City of Los Angeles’ Transit Corridors Strategy: Coordinated Action toward a Transit-Oriented Metropolis
Executive Summary
Roadway congestion is hindering Los Angeles’ competitive advantage as a global gateway and detracting from the region’s quality of life. Recognizing these issues, voters approved the $36 billion dollar Measure R sales tax in 2008, which will provide more than $10 billion for new fixed-guideway transit projects in Los Angeles County—one of the largest investments in transit in the United States. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has worked to ensure that the City of Los Angeles takes advantage of the transformative potential this transportation investment can have on communities.
To date, the City’s efforts to become transit oriented have not been as coherent or effective as City leaders envisioned. Therefore, the Mayor’s office, Metro and others recognized that the City of Los Angeles needed a comprehensive strategy to foster transit orientation. Mayor Villaraigosa convened a “TOD Cabinet” in December 2011 tasked with developing and implementing a city-wide strategy. The Cabinet is comprised of staff members from the Mayor’s Offices of Transportation and Economic and Business Policy, the Departments of City Planning, Housing, and Transportation, the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, the Bureau of Engineering, and the recently disbanded Community Redevelopment Agency. The Mayor also invited staff from the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) to join the Cabinet and engaged private sector specialists during several Cabinet meetings.
In early 2012, our team of transit orientation experts was asked by Metro to work with the City of Los Angeles’ TOD Cabinet to lay the groundwork for developing the City’s strategy. We did so by meeting extensively with the Cabinet to develop a menu of potential transit orientation tactics that the City and its partners could implement, using the suggested tactics to help infer and define the City’s transit orientation goals, undertaking an exhaustive review of Los Angeles’ existing policies and procedures related to transit orientation, and conducting case studies of other transit-oriented locations. The findings presented in this report serve as a starting point for the City of Los Angeles to produce an evolving strategy that is coordinated with the transit orientation efforts to be undertaken by City partners.
Findings from Case Studies
Based on case studies conducted in nine cities across the globe, we have found that the most successful locales, including Copenhagen, Hong Kong, Curitiba, and the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor in Arlington, Virginia, pursued their transit orientation goals through four overarching methods:
Findings from Existing LA Transit Orientation Policies
Through a review of existing City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County Metro transit orientation policies and procedures, we found that many actions have already been taken toward a transit-oriented Los Angeles. For instance, the General Plan has been transit-oriented for nearly 40 years and a viable transit orientation policy exists but has been “sitting on the shelf” since it was passed jointly by L.A. City Council and Metro’s board in 1993. Los Angeles already has many transit orientation policies, but it has lacked collaboration across its departments, has inconsistently coordinated its efforts with outside players, and has focused on higher level policymaking and implementing land use plans—with few notable plans being successfully completed. Prior efforts were pursued without a method for prioritizing and implementing thousands of other actions that will be required to shift the needle in Los Angeles. For instance, we found numerous tactics enumerated in the 1993 Land Use/Transportation Policy that did not require land use plans or other policies to be modified, have not been implemented, and still have merit in 2012.
During our review, we also found Los Angeles has historically considered planning for land use and transit integration at multiple scales but very infrequently at the corridor scale. We believe that the transformations that Los Angeles’ transit orientation stakeholders hope to achieve are optimally considered at the corridor scale, the scale at which many tactical approaches apply. To keep this front of mind, we recommend that the City’s transit orientation strategy be called the City of Los Angeles Transit Corridors Strategy.
Identifying Potential Tactics and Goals for the Los Angeles Strategy
As part of our involvement in the development of this strategy, we listened extensively to individuals within the City and L.A. Metro who play a role in defining Los Angeles’ physical form as they discussed their visions of the region’s future. These discussions focused on the transformation of Los Angeles into a place that is known for its sustainability and its livability rather than its traffic congestion. These were not narrow discussions of “transit-oriented districts” or “transit-oriented development.” City stakeholders were interested in achieving much broader metropolitan transit orientation. Reflecting their broad transit orientation goals and constrained by values deemed important by City departments, Cabinet members suggested transit orientation tactics that they hoped to undertake.
From Cabinet member suggestions, existing policies, case study findings, and a review of best practices, we have aggregated an initial “menu” of more than 170 tactical actions that City of Los Angeles staff is willing, if provided the resources and policy direction, to undertake to promote transit orientation. These tactics are not all of the transit orientation efforts that the City could undertake. Nor is the list limited to politically viable tactics. We have generated an initial menu that will expand as City staff continues to brainstorm and as the City’s partners bring their own suggestions for consideration. It is anticipated that this menu will grow rapidly and only get smaller when initiatives are fully implemented.
This “menu” is a resource that the City can refer to when developing its evolving transit orientation strategy. In any given year, the City will only have the capacity to implement a small number of the tactics that will accumulate in this growing list. The City will have to prioritize its efforts. In addition to input by the City’s partners about their priorities and resources, the database includes information about the tactics that can help the prioritization process. For instance, querying the tactic database, we determined that approximately 20 of the 172 tactics in the database as of June 2012 could be fully implemented within one year and more than one quarter are considered both highly feasible to implement and would have a high impact on Los Angeles’ transit orientation.
While it will be up to the City and its partners to use the tactical menu to define an evolving strategy, we used the tactic database to inform our implementation recommendations. For instance, one query of the tactic database highlighted the fact that transit orientation relies heavily on actions falling outside of the purview of the Department of City Planning, the prototypical home of transit-oriented planning. This helped us identify other departments that could take a leadership role in the L.A. Transit Corridors Strategy. We also found that less than one third of the tactics rely on new real estate development to have an impact on the transit orientation of Los Angeles and the wellbeing of Angelenos, a finding unexpected by many individuals familiar with common definitions of transit-oriented development.
We used the initial list of tactics to better understand what “transit orientation” meant within the City of Los Angeles. We had learned early in the process that staff were talking about definitions of transit orientation that extended well beyond the notions typically associated with either “transit oriented districts” or “transit oriented development”. By examining the underlying purpose of each of the tactics suggested by staff, we were able to better understand the intentions and aspirations of the City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County Metro. Their tactical ideas indicated to us certain strategic objectives, approaches, goals, and values for the Transit Corridors Strategy. We shared our observations with the Mayor’s TOD Cabinet, suggested strategic language, modified that language based on the Cabinet’s feedback, and have developed an initial set of strategic components that could be adopted as part of the City’s official strategy. Emerging from this process, we determined that transit-oriented tactics considered by the City targeted at least one of the following four transit orientation goals while consistently upholding four transit orientation values.
VALUES:
Most of the transit orientation tactics under consideration by the City touch on several of these goals while upholding all of these values. For instance, one approach to making the City more transit oriented is to produce and preserve affordable housing near transit. Tactics associated with that transit orientation approach directly address goals related to housing and quality of life while upholding all four of the values. The same tactics also indirectly address jobs and connectivity while upholding the four values.
Reflecting these observations about the City’s values and goals, the City of Los Angeles recently developed the following working definition of transit orientation to frame their efforts:
Executive Summary
Roadway congestion is hindering Los Angeles’ competitive advantage as a global gateway and detracting from the region’s quality of life. Recognizing these issues, voters approved the $36 billion dollar Measure R sales tax in 2008, which will provide more than $10 billion for new fixed-guideway transit projects in Los Angeles County—one of the largest investments in transit in the United States. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has worked to ensure that the City of Los Angeles takes advantage of the transformative potential this transportation investment can have on communities.
To date, the City’s efforts to become transit oriented have not been as coherent or effective as City leaders envisioned. Therefore, the Mayor’s office, Metro and others recognized that the City of Los Angeles needed a comprehensive strategy to foster transit orientation. Mayor Villaraigosa convened a “TOD Cabinet” in December 2011 tasked with developing and implementing a city-wide strategy. The Cabinet is comprised of staff members from the Mayor’s Offices of Transportation and Economic and Business Policy, the Departments of City Planning, Housing, and Transportation, the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, the Bureau of Engineering, and the recently disbanded Community Redevelopment Agency. The Mayor also invited staff from the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) to join the Cabinet and engaged private sector specialists during several Cabinet meetings.
In early 2012, our team of transit orientation experts was asked by Metro to work with the City of Los Angeles’ TOD Cabinet to lay the groundwork for developing the City’s strategy. We did so by meeting extensively with the Cabinet to develop a menu of potential transit orientation tactics that the City and its partners could implement, using the suggested tactics to help infer and define the City’s transit orientation goals, undertaking an exhaustive review of Los Angeles’ existing policies and procedures related to transit orientation, and conducting case studies of other transit-oriented locations. The findings presented in this report serve as a starting point for the City of Los Angeles to produce an evolving strategy that is coordinated with the transit orientation efforts to be undertaken by City partners.
Findings from Case Studies
Based on case studies conducted in nine cities across the globe, we have found that the most successful locales, including Copenhagen, Hong Kong, Curitiba, and the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor in Arlington, Virginia, pursued their transit orientation goals through four overarching methods:
- Concentrating on a few corridor-based and market-supported opportunities to shape urban form;
- Leveling the playing field between automobiles and transit in terms of dedicated public space, user cost, and user convenience;
- Developing a compelling and “bumper sticker-worthy” description of how the region would grow around transit corridors that stuck in residents’ minds for decades; and
- Approaching every decision and action as an opportunity to make the city more transit-oriented.
Findings from Existing LA Transit Orientation Policies
Through a review of existing City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County Metro transit orientation policies and procedures, we found that many actions have already been taken toward a transit-oriented Los Angeles. For instance, the General Plan has been transit-oriented for nearly 40 years and a viable transit orientation policy exists but has been “sitting on the shelf” since it was passed jointly by L.A. City Council and Metro’s board in 1993. Los Angeles already has many transit orientation policies, but it has lacked collaboration across its departments, has inconsistently coordinated its efforts with outside players, and has focused on higher level policymaking and implementing land use plans—with few notable plans being successfully completed. Prior efforts were pursued without a method for prioritizing and implementing thousands of other actions that will be required to shift the needle in Los Angeles. For instance, we found numerous tactics enumerated in the 1993 Land Use/Transportation Policy that did not require land use plans or other policies to be modified, have not been implemented, and still have merit in 2012.
During our review, we also found Los Angeles has historically considered planning for land use and transit integration at multiple scales but very infrequently at the corridor scale. We believe that the transformations that Los Angeles’ transit orientation stakeholders hope to achieve are optimally considered at the corridor scale, the scale at which many tactical approaches apply. To keep this front of mind, we recommend that the City’s transit orientation strategy be called the City of Los Angeles Transit Corridors Strategy.
Identifying Potential Tactics and Goals for the Los Angeles Strategy
As part of our involvement in the development of this strategy, we listened extensively to individuals within the City and L.A. Metro who play a role in defining Los Angeles’ physical form as they discussed their visions of the region’s future. These discussions focused on the transformation of Los Angeles into a place that is known for its sustainability and its livability rather than its traffic congestion. These were not narrow discussions of “transit-oriented districts” or “transit-oriented development.” City stakeholders were interested in achieving much broader metropolitan transit orientation. Reflecting their broad transit orientation goals and constrained by values deemed important by City departments, Cabinet members suggested transit orientation tactics that they hoped to undertake.
From Cabinet member suggestions, existing policies, case study findings, and a review of best practices, we have aggregated an initial “menu” of more than 170 tactical actions that City of Los Angeles staff is willing, if provided the resources and policy direction, to undertake to promote transit orientation. These tactics are not all of the transit orientation efforts that the City could undertake. Nor is the list limited to politically viable tactics. We have generated an initial menu that will expand as City staff continues to brainstorm and as the City’s partners bring their own suggestions for consideration. It is anticipated that this menu will grow rapidly and only get smaller when initiatives are fully implemented.
This “menu” is a resource that the City can refer to when developing its evolving transit orientation strategy. In any given year, the City will only have the capacity to implement a small number of the tactics that will accumulate in this growing list. The City will have to prioritize its efforts. In addition to input by the City’s partners about their priorities and resources, the database includes information about the tactics that can help the prioritization process. For instance, querying the tactic database, we determined that approximately 20 of the 172 tactics in the database as of June 2012 could be fully implemented within one year and more than one quarter are considered both highly feasible to implement and would have a high impact on Los Angeles’ transit orientation.
While it will be up to the City and its partners to use the tactical menu to define an evolving strategy, we used the tactic database to inform our implementation recommendations. For instance, one query of the tactic database highlighted the fact that transit orientation relies heavily on actions falling outside of the purview of the Department of City Planning, the prototypical home of transit-oriented planning. This helped us identify other departments that could take a leadership role in the L.A. Transit Corridors Strategy. We also found that less than one third of the tactics rely on new real estate development to have an impact on the transit orientation of Los Angeles and the wellbeing of Angelenos, a finding unexpected by many individuals familiar with common definitions of transit-oriented development.
We used the initial list of tactics to better understand what “transit orientation” meant within the City of Los Angeles. We had learned early in the process that staff were talking about definitions of transit orientation that extended well beyond the notions typically associated with either “transit oriented districts” or “transit oriented development”. By examining the underlying purpose of each of the tactics suggested by staff, we were able to better understand the intentions and aspirations of the City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County Metro. Their tactical ideas indicated to us certain strategic objectives, approaches, goals, and values for the Transit Corridors Strategy. We shared our observations with the Mayor’s TOD Cabinet, suggested strategic language, modified that language based on the Cabinet’s feedback, and have developed an initial set of strategic components that could be adopted as part of the City’s official strategy. Emerging from this process, we determined that transit-oriented tactics considered by the City targeted at least one of the following four transit orientation goals while consistently upholding four transit orientation values.
VALUES:
- Environment: Foster a safe, healthy, and environmentally sustainable region.
- Equity: Foster equal access to opportunity and equitable treatment for all.
- Engagement: Foster social interaction and community vitality.
- Economy: Foster an economically prosperous and resilient region
- Jobs: Foster attractive and diverse employment opportunities in highly accessible locations.
- Housing: In highly accessible locations, foster housing options that meet diverse housing needs.
- Quality of Life: In highly accessible locations, foster the provision of basic services and additional community benefits.
- Connectivity: Foster diverse transportation options that reduce overall travel time and out of pocket transportation costs
Most of the transit orientation tactics under consideration by the City touch on several of these goals while upholding all of these values. For instance, one approach to making the City more transit oriented is to produce and preserve affordable housing near transit. Tactics associated with that transit orientation approach directly address goals related to housing and quality of life while upholding all four of the values. The same tactics also indirectly address jobs and connectivity while upholding the four values.
Reflecting these observations about the City’s values and goals, the City of Los Angeles recently developed the following working definition of transit orientation to frame their efforts:
“Transit orientation arises from policies that promote and coordinate planning and implementation activities to create, preserve, and enhance employment, economic development, affordable and workforce housing, and community services along transit, so that all stakeholders share in the benefits of growth and revitalization created by transit investment. Transit orientation is built on a foundation of values related to equity, economy, environment, and engagement. The ultimate goal is to provide communities, including people of all incomes and ethnic backgrounds, access to quality transportation, housing and economic opportunities while ensuring their participation in the community development process.”
The next step will be for the City of Los Angeles to partner with other players who shape Los Angeles’ future to reconsider the goals, coordinate tactical approaches, and define a shared and compelling transit-oriented vision of Los Angeles—a “bumper sticker-worthy” description of a transit-oriented future.
Iterative Refinement and Implementation of the City’s Strategy
A strategy is an evolving understanding of the methods by which an organization will achieve its purpose. In this instance, the City’s Transit Corridors Strategy must tell City staff and their partners what transit orientation tactics they should focus on each day and in the future. Carrying out a strategy to achieve the City’s goals will require the following critical actions on the part of City Council, the Mayor’s Office, and the existing TOD Cabinet:
We believe that it is very desirable and feasible for the City of Los Angeles to become more transit-oriented. The following report describes our findings and can serve as an input into the City’s process of developing a City-wide Transit Corridors Strategy that, with proper implementation, can help it achieve its transit orientation goals and fully leverage the opportunity that Measure R presents.
Iterative Refinement and Implementation of the City’s Strategy
A strategy is an evolving understanding of the methods by which an organization will achieve its purpose. In this instance, the City’s Transit Corridors Strategy must tell City staff and their partners what transit orientation tactics they should focus on each day and in the future. Carrying out a strategy to achieve the City’s goals will require the following critical actions on the part of City Council, the Mayor’s Office, and the existing TOD Cabinet:
- The Mayor or Council should institutionalize a collaborative protocol within the City of Los Angeles similar to the Mayor’s TOD Cabinet to coordinate the transit orientation activities of City departments;
- The Mayor or Council should establish the new cabinet such that City departments will remain invested over the long time period that it will take to see the results of most transit orienation efforts;
- The new cabinet should be formulated such that the institution survives dozens of political cycles;
- City leadership should validate the creation of the new cabinet and its high-level goals so that City staff are empowered to foster a transit-oriented metropolis with every decision they make;
- The new cabinet should be tasked with regularly developing an internal prioritization of the City’s transit orientation efforts;
- The new cabinet should be created such that it serves as a centralized touch-point for external “Transit Orientation Partners” when communicating with the City about transit-orientation efforts;
- The new cabinet should be tasked with collaborating with external players to refine a shared transit-oriented vision for the city’s future;
- The new cabinet should be tasked with regularly engaging external players to collaboratively align the City’s goals, approaches, and tactics with the priorities, resources, and efforts of its public- and private-sector partners;
- The new cabinet should be tasked with regularly evaluating City departments progress in implementing transit orientation tactics; and
- The new cabinet should be tasked with regularly reporting on implementation plans and progress to City leadership and external players.
We believe that it is very desirable and feasible for the City of Los Angeles to become more transit-oriented. The following report describes our findings and can serve as an input into the City’s process of developing a City-wide Transit Corridors Strategy that, with proper implementation, can help it achieve its transit orientation goals and fully leverage the opportunity that Measure R presents.
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Copyright 2008-2022. Ian Carlton. All rights reserved.
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Portland Streetcar header image used with permission. My thanks to Bert Gregory, Mithun.
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