Good Transit and Well Being

The journal Transportation published relevant and interesting research done by professor Jason Cao from the University of Minnesota Humphrey School of Public Affairs. The article "The association between light rail transit and satisfactions with travel and life: evidence from Twin Cities" was published March 2013. The research looks at the light rail line that runs from downtown Minneapolis to the airport and Mall of America. The Hiawatha Light Rail/METRO Blue Line opened in 2004 and has been followed up by the METRO Green Line running from downtown Minneapolis to downtown St. Paul via University Avenue that opened up last June 2014.
CityLab did an article based on Cao's study entitled "Living Near Good Transit May Make You Happier". 

Cao wanted to find out if the new transit line was contributing to the well-being of nearby residents. A survey was sent out to 4 communities with varying access to transit. The findings: "People in the Hiawatha corridor had higher ratings on questions related to the quality of their lives compared to people in the other four corridors." Cao's idea is that no matter the reason, more life satisfactions comes from a higher level of mobility that the light rail provides.

In conclusion, these publications back up a claim that I have always have felt to be true. Since experiencing my first round of a great public transit system in Germany in 2001, and the second round in Copenhagen in 2012, and then most recently this past fall, once again in Munich, Germany, it has always seemed that a quality transit system somehow just makes life better. I felt it personally, but I also felt it among the communities I was living in. It's almost impossible to describe unless you've felt it for yourself, but it seems right that accessibility, equity, mobility, etc., all improve around good transit, and that in turn puts people more at ease in some way. Once you really stop to think about it, it makes sense. I may have sounded crazy to have come out and said this on my own, and since I'm not currently conducting any official research, I was thrilled to have found CityLab's and Cao's publications that prove that quality transit can help influence a high quality of life. 

The METRO Green Line generated at least $2.5 billion worth of economic development within half a mile of the new transit system

Original Jason Cao study (access to full article is not available)

Access and Outcomes: Transportation, Location, and Subjective Well-Being - Eric Andrew Morris UCLA Dissertation 

Density in a Munich Suburb

This post continues a conversation started Tuesday, December 9, 2014 - Suburbs: Twin Cities vs Munich. The previous post gives an areal view. Here I will take you to the ground level of the suburb of Munich - Vaterstetten and Baldham - to showcase how dense, walkable, and transit friendly these neighborhoods are.


Housing

New housing next to the Baldham S-Bahn

New housing going up right next to the S-Bahn (train into downtown Munich) station in Baldham

You can find these blue signs (all the way to the right of the picture) everywhere - I will talk about them in another post

Attached houses

In the newer parts it's very common to see multiple attached units

Notice the garages underneath

You can always find traditional Bavarian style homes

Attached housing right on the edge of the limits

This is a pedestrian-way - no cars allowed

Attached housing allows for privacy, energy efficiency and density

A range of housing can be found here

Bavarian-style architecture is still incorporated in the buildings and housing

So many attached houses!

This is the largest backyard I've seen here - no joke

View from my bedroom window

Car Park

Little containers for smaller-sized cars

Underground parking at a main shopping center next to the S-Bahn

Underground parking for housing

Germans often drive nice cars - and they still like to park them in garages

But the concept of garage is very different

Many use the street as permanent parking spaces

Rows of garages - kind of ugly? But it meets a need in a high density manner

100+ car Walmart-style parking lots in the suburbs? Forget about it -- this is all you get

Parking places intermixed with the boulevards

An on-street parking in addition to that - slows cars down

A chance for greenery

Streets

Roundabout - keeps traffic moving

So green!

Split road with a chance for greenery in the middle

Skinny streets slow cars down

Not quite enough room for 2 side-by-side cars, so cars can drive onto the barrier or up onto the sidewalk to pass

Mirrors help cars see what's coming

Mirror down a perpendicular street

Leaving Baldham - entering Vaterstetten

There is ALWAYS a sidewalk

Be conscious of bikes

Be conscious of pedestrians

A main drag - bikes and peds are always seen here too

Even a main drag has one skinny lane

The sign reads: Speed down, please! Children

Main street perpendicular to the S-Bahn station - lots of shopping and housing here, and always lots of people

Grocery store, bakery, pharmacy, bank, etc., and plenty of housing

Roads are NEVER packed with cars

Just as many people - or more - as autos

Wide roads made skinnier with obstructions

Tiny little streets!

Wide streets made more interesting

You don't drive fast down such a street

Public Spaces

Courtyard with housing, next to shopping and the Baldham S-Bahn station

Green space and playground ares for kids, next to dense housing

3/4-story housing

Large park and green space located next to housing

Courtyard area with shops on the ground level and housing above

Soccer fields, of course

A playground is always walking distance

Small play places are EVERYWHERE

Car park, bike shelter, shops and restaurants, 100 ft from the S-Bahn station

More places for children to mingle

Intermixed in housing

Shops/businesses on ground level, space to mingle

Ways to Get Around, Through, and to Town

Sidewalk along the roundabout

Walking only -- grocer, restaurant, pharmacy, bookstore, clothing, etc -- small, local businesses

Bike park!!!

Bike and ped path, separated, under the S-Bahn, parallel to the street

View from the opposite side

Many pathways like this -- bike and ped only

Adding greenery to an intersection

Bike or drive

Bus stops on tiny suburb streets

This bus stop has flavor!

The "beginning" of a ped and bike-only pathway

Continued

Continued

Continued

Interrupted by small streets and slow-moving/rare traffic, but it keeps going!

Continued

Continued

The start from the opposite end

Amazingly -- this traffic signal exists to stop for pedestrians, only 

Bike/ped path splits a field

If it's there, they will come

Another part of town, another ped/bike-only pathway

Bikes and buses seen in these Bavarian suburbs all the time

Bike park!!

Mixed Use

Hotel, grocer, pharmacy, housing, etc., right next to the S-Bahn station

Ground level restaurants and shops, housing above

Ground level shopping, housing above

Ground level business, housing above

Shops and amenities along the main drag off the S-Bahn in Vaterstetten

Post office, ice cream, bakery, coffee,... housing above

Ground business/shops, housing above AND bike park!