Overcoming the "Last Mile" - BART's Station Access Guidelines

by Jeffrey Tumlin and Adam Millard-Ball

The "last mile" from the station or bus stop to a passenger's final destination is often the weak link in a transit system. An agency will find it difficult to attract new riders if pedestrian connections feel unsafe, parking lots are filled to capacity, and feeder bus stops are poorly located.
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King County Keeps Moving: Evaluating Best Practices in ADA Paratransit Eligibility

by Richard Weiner

King County Metro in Seattle, Washington, has been recognized as a trend-setter and leading innovator in the evolution of paratransit practices and procedures. Faced with dramatic projected increases in paratransit demand and costs, the agency implemented significant refinements to their paratransit eligibility procedures in November 2000.
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How to Involve the Community in Containing Paratransit Demand: the Santa Cruz Metro Eligibility Case Study

by Richard Weiner

Between 1997 and 2000, ADA paratransit ridership almost doubled in Santa Cruz County, California, and registration increased to over 7,500 - a remarkably high number for the population of less than 200,000. In the ten year history of registering applicants, no applicant had ever been turned down, and the files had never been purged. When the proportion of Santa Cruz METRO's budget allocated to paratransit began to exceed 10%, the Board decided to overhaul the entire registration process, and involve the community at each step of the way.
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Bus Stops: It´s all about the "curb appeal"

by Paul Jewel

One of the best ways to attract customers is to make sure your system has excellent curb appeal. Curb appeal starts with the bus stop... the "front door" to your system.
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Focus on Older People: Maintaining Senior Mobility

by David Koffman

Transportation planners around the country are working to ensure the mobility of the rapidly increasing population of older people. Not only is the size of the senior population expected to grow rapidly, the most rapid growth is expected to occur in the oldest age groups, which have the most severe mobility problems.
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Making Transit Oriented Development Work

by Jeffrey Tumlin, Patrick Siegman and Adam Millard-Ball

Even a cursory glance around the country reveals almost exponential growth in interest in transit oriented development (TOD). Many developments that are touted as transit oriented development, however, fail to live up to their potential - even if they are located close to rail stations or frequent bus routes. As a result, the potential benefits, including increased transit ridership, are often lost.
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Parking Policies for Smart Growth

by Adam Millard-Ball

As cities across the country continue to grow, many are faced with often competing goals regarding parking policy and Smart Growth. Nelson\Nygaard has conducted a study that addresses these conflicting goals and found that parking policies may also affect access to affordable housing.
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Want to start a new transit service? Take a few tips from the pros!

by Matt Zisman and Paul Jewel

Nelson\Nygaard staff touched bases with four transit operators who recently implemented new services. These operators gave us the scoop on what it "really takes" to get something started.
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TDM Planning Principles

by Barb Laurenson

Nelson\Nygaard specializes in transportation demand management (TDM). We have developed 20 principles that guide our transportation demand management planning work.
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Making Taxi Service Work in San Francisco

by Adam Millard-Ball

How can we realize the full potential of taxis as an integral part of an urban transportation system? Nelson/Nygaard has developed a package of recommendations to improve reliability and increase taxi use, in a project for non-profit think-tank the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association.
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Guarenteed Ride Home Program Gets Results

by Diana Teich
"In 1998, Nelson\Nygaard developed and implemented a Guaranteed Ride Home Program in Alameda County, California for the Alameda County Congestion Management Agency (CMA)."
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Yosemite Regional Transportation Strategy:
A Regional Approach to a National Problem

by Bonnie Nelson
"The objective of the YARTS process, then, is not only to provide additional transportation choices for visitors, residents and employees traveling between gateway communities and the park, but also to ensure the economic vitality of the gateway communities."
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Long Range Plans:
New Tools Can Make Transit Attractive

by Jarrett Walker
"The key is to identify in the long term, 20 years in advance, the arterials that will support straight, fast, frequent transit service."
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Productivity Versus Coverage:
Making the Tradeoff Clear

by Jarrett Walker
"Several recent Nelson\Nygaard studies have encouraged transit agency boards to face the difficult choices of service planning, and to provide clear policy direction about those choices."
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