For nearly nine decades RPA has promoted compact, mixed-use cities and suburbs, organized around transit, sidewalks and shoe leather. Long before climate and energy concerns came to the fore, we argued for this kind of development because we believe it's the best way to build communities that are good for people, the economy and the environment. While we've had our successes, we've also seen stubborn resistance from government and the public in adopting these principles as the bottom line in planning and transportation decisions. We've had too much low-density, automobile sprawl, fueled by a car-based culture and federal highway construction and mortgage subsidies.
We now seem poised, however, for a fundamental shift toward the kind of world that RPA has envisioned for 85 years - not thanks to a greater awareness of climate change, or to society's realization that social networks depend on walkable neighborhoods, or because every year it's harder to get around, but simply because the price of gasoline makes unaffordable the lifestyle that many Americans live. From elected leaders to business leaders to the general public, now that gas is more than $4 a gallon, people are making different decisions concerning how they live.
Ridership on the New York City subways, commuter rail and buses is at an all-time high, while traffic is down on bridges, tunnels and highways. New York City is even experiencing a surge in bicycle riders, including commuters. And across the region, new housing is being built in transit-accessible locations while exurban large lot subdivisions are abandoned.
Case in point: Toll Brothers, one of the nation's largest housing developers and historically a builder of conventional McMansions at the exurban edge, has accelerated its investments in new urban condos, including a new high rise project on Third Avenue, around the corner from RPA's Union Square headquarters, and several more apartment buildings in Brooklyn. Recent front page stories in the Wall Street Journal on the success of smart growth plans in Sacramento and small bungalow developments in Seattle provide additional tea leaves about these trends.
Meanwhile, as a result of escalating fuel prices, most American households are paying two or three times as much today to commute and heat their homes as they did just a few years ago. Many Americans and many residents of our region must now choose between filling the heating oil tank or paying the mortgage. Falling housing prices and SUV resale values make it difficult or impossible for them to refinance or downsize their homes or vehicles. As a result, isolated homes stay on the market for months, SUV and truck sales have cratered and demand for exurban offices has dropped - while housing sales and office rents in Manhattan and transit-accessible suburban centers have held up and even increased.
Considering the growing interest in denser, transit-accessible neighborhoods, the challenge for our region is to create both new transit capacity and opportunities for transit-oriented development. The good news is that we already have the nation's largest transit system, with almost three quarters of national urban rail ridership, and that as a result of decades of reinvestment this system is approaching a state of good repair. The bad news is that the surge of new ridership has consumed nearly all of the system's current capacity, leaving many subway, commuter rail and bus lines with crush loads. Moreover, large areas of the region lack any kind of bus or rail service. And dozens of suburban transit stops are surrounded by surface parking lots and low-density commercial uses, not the higher density housing and structured parking that the public now wants and the region's future success requires.
To meet increased demands for transit, the MTA, NJ TRANSIT and ConnDOT must commit themselves to providing every neighborhood in the region with viable transit alternatives. In the long run they will need to create new transit capacity with the "megaprojects" - East Side Access, Second Avenue Subway, Access to the Region's Core and LIRR Third Track - and the proposed New Haven to Hartford commuter rail extension. These projects will all require new funding in upcoming MTA capital plans and similar capital programs in New Jersey and Connecticut. Richard Ravitch, the longest serving member of RPA's Board of Directors, is leading a commission that will recommend financing strategies to Governor Paterson and the New York State Legislature for the MTA's upcoming five year Capital Plan. This plan will include funds needed to both sustain the existing MTA system and create the new capacity the region will need in an era of high fuel prices and rapidly rising transit demand. While adopting new long-range revenue raising plans may not be pleasant, the region can and will find the means to do so. These transportation systems are simply too important not to.
While New York focuses on the MTA's capital plan, its counterparts in New Jersey and Connecticut should also include short-term measures to provide new alternatives in places poorly served by transit. This can be done by expanding bus and modern, high-speed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service to areas in the outer boroughs of New York City and suburbs throughout the region. These services can be put in place quickly and with relatively modest capital and operating investments, and they provide immediate transit services to underserved communities. New and expanded ferry service can provide similar transit service to waterfront communities across the region that currently lack transit access, from Asbury Park to Haverstraw and from Glen Cove to the Rockaways - all with minimal investments and immediate results. If these investments are made, the MTA's soon to be completed South Ferry transit terminal in Lower Manhattan could become an intermodal hub for region-wide ferry services.
To meet the public's rising demand for transit-accessible housing all three states must expand and accelerate their commitment to building dense walkable neighborhoods near transit stations. NJ TRANSIT's successful Transit Village program provides a template for what the other two states should adopt. Under this program, dozens of cities and towns have allowed and encouraged the development of thousands of new housing units, office and retail development and structured parking, all within walking distance of commuter rail stops.
The MTA has begun a similar initiative, with Metro-North's Transit Oriented Development projects in Beacon and Harrison. The MTA's Sustainability Commission is proposing a major expansion of this program across its service area, and Governor Paterson's Smart Growth Cabinet is investigating state initiatives that could advance this goal. The Long Island Rail Road is also working with local officials in places like Ronkonkoma and East Farmingdale to implement new TOD projects. In Connecticut, the General Assembly has adopted legislation promoting TOD plans, but the state Office of Policy and Management has been slow to release state grants - required to implement this statute - to municipalities .
While there is little we can do to limit the rise in global energy prices, there is much that we can do to ensure that the Tri-state region and all of its communities are prepared for its consequences. With our vast transit system and extensive network of compact cities and suburbs, we are better positioned than any other place in the country to respond to this challenge, and to create the new housing and transit options that will allow all of our 23 million residents to thrive in an era of high fuel prices.
There will be some who will say that we can't afford to make these investments in a time of economic uncertainty and falling tax revenues. They are, in effect, saying to our residents and communities that we can't afford to respond to this crisis and invest in their future. But in reality, we can't afford not to take these steps. The well-being of every household, every community and every business in the region depends on it.
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