people who use them and the places they need to go (Tomer, Kneebone, Puentes & Berube, 2011). For low-income households in particular, access to public transportation that efficiently connects residential and employment locations offers a safety-net for those without personal vehicles as well as a cost saving to those who may own vehicles but cannot afford to use them to travel to work. Some states like Florida emphasize proximity to public transit in their assessment of applications for funding of assisted housing developments as a way to promote sustainability. Assisted housing, in this paper, refers to privately-owned rental housing that receives public subsidies in exchange for accepting restrictions on tenant income (Shimberg Center, 2009). In Florida developers receive tie-breaker points of varying amounts for developments based on their proximity to different types of transit, such as bus or bus rapid transit stops and rail stations (Florida Housing Finance Corporation, 2011). Proximity to stops, however, is only part of the equation necessary for measuring transit accessibility. The number of destinations that can be reached and the service frequency provided at each stop are just as important measurements. This is supported in the literature on accessibility which highlights that it is the ease or convenience of reaching opportunities for activity or service that characterizes accessibility, not simply whether locations are proximal to others (Handy, 2002; Hanson, 2004; Primerano and Taylor, 2005; Lei and Church, 2010). In terms of transit accessibility, this can mean the combination of several measurements such as the ability to walk to transit stops, the convenience of using the transit system, and the accessibility of destinations to transit stops (Mavoa et.al., 2012).
people who use them and the places they need to go (Tomer, Kneebone, Puentes & Berube, 2011). For low-income households in particular, access to public transportation that efficiently connects residential and employment locations offers a safety-net for those without personal vehicles as well as a cost saving to those who may own vehicles but cannot afford to use them to travel to work. Some states like Florida emphasize proximity to public transit in their assessment of applications for funding of assisted housing developments as a way to promote sustainability. Assisted housing, in this paper, refers to privately-owned rental housing that receives public subsidies in exchange for accepting restrictions on tenant income (Shimberg Center, 2009). In Florida developers receive tie-breaker points of varying amounts for developments based on their proximity to different types of transit, such as bus or bus rapid transit stops and rail stations (Florida Housing Finance Corporation, 2011). Proximity to stops, however, is only part of the equation necessary for measuring transit accessibility. The number of destinations that can be reached and the service frequency provided at each stop are just as important measurements. This is supported in the literature on accessibility which highlights that it is the ease or convenience of reaching opportunities for activity or service that characterizes accessibility, not simply whether locations are proximal to others (Handy, 2002; Hanson, 2004; Primerano and Taylor, 2005; Lei and Church, 2010). In terms of transit accessibility, this can mean the combination of several measurements such as the ability to walk to transit stops, the convenience of using the transit system, and the accessibility of destinations to transit stops (Mavoa et.al., 2012).
7c4_E_Thompson_UFL_Transit_Access_UAA_conf_paper_9APRIL2012_2.docx