Studies have already pointed to transit-oriented development's importance to the Metro. Now, Metro's Planning Office has created a Land Use-Ridership model to measure the impact of changes like household gross, employment growth and new development, on ridership and revenue. The tool revealed that accessibility was a major factor during peak periods, Metro announced in its planning blog, PlanItMetro. For instance, access to jobs increased morning ridership while access to households increased pm ridership. Schools and universities were linked to midday ridership, and retail, restaurants and bars played a large role in evening ridership. The tool will help Metro determine the types of development that generate more ridership, and whether more riders at a specific station will require additional escalators or entrances, among other things. Metro will continue to refine the tool over the next few months before using it on large development projects. [PIM]
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