From Rhetoric to Reality

The City of Los Angeles, known for its car dependency, has been making strides to revive public transportation in the city. In addition to transit system expansion and improvement, transit-oriented development (TOD) policy has been enacted throughout the city and county in comprehensive plans, community plans, special zoning ordinances, and the Metro Joint Development Program. TOD in this research is defined as high-density mixed-use development in close proximity to one or more forms of public transportation. The social, economic, and environmental benefits of TOD justify its use as an alternative to traditional auto-oriented development. Although the benefits of TOD are well understood, less can be found in current literature addressing the implementation of such policies. What implementation research that does exist has focused on performance in terms of resulting modal shift and transit ridership. Less research has been done to assess the success of implementation in achieving truly mixed and economically accessible transit neighborhoods. This study uses policy analysis, data mapping, and site inventory to examine the implementation of TOD policies surrounding phase one of the