Passing an economic development bill with provisions to stimulate Gateway City TOD

The Gateway Cities Journal

Over 20,000 people came out on Father’s Day weekend to ride the long-awaited Springfield-to-New Haven commuter rail service. This outpouring of support demonstrates just how much western Massachusetts hungers for vital rail connections (a yearning that Boston-centric leaders on Beacon Hill have been somewhat hesitant to affirm). But now that Springfield’s rail infrastructure is in

6th International Transportation and Economic Development Conference

Transformative Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) in Massachusetts Gateway Cities

Dan Hodge, of Hodge Economic Consulting, recently presented research authored with MassINC’s Ben Forman on transit-oriented development (TOD) in Massachusetts Gateway Cities at the 6th International Transportation and Economic Development Conference on June 7. Addressing the conference in Washington, DC, Hodge addressed the benefits that TOD can to bring to Massachusetts by calculating its real-world

Gateway Cities TOD Tour

Stop 1: Springfield

On Wednesday, June 20th, MassINC joined the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission and Hodge Economic Consulting for an informal discussion of local findings from “Exploring the Future of Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) in Gateway Cities.” Over a barbecue dinner at Theodore’s, local leaders discussed the potential of the refurbished Union Station, the promise of new commuter rail

Linking Commuter Rail to Jobs, Housing, and Opportunity in Eastern Massachusetts

An In-Depth Look

Research Director Ben Forman offers an in-depth look at the rich potential of New England small cities’ transit infrastructure in “Linking Commuter Rail to Jobs, Housing, and Opportunity in Eastern Massachusetts,” published this week in the American Prospect. Forman champions the virtue of these cities’ land—expansive, close to transit, and ripe for new development—but laments

New MassINC Research Sizes Up the Untapped Potential of Gateway City Rail

Exploring the Future of Transit-Oriented Development

Leaders from across the state gathered at the UMass Club last week for the unveiling of a major new report estimating the long-term potential of transit-oriented development (TOD) in Gateway Cities. The culmination of a year of methodical work by a MassINC-led research team, this new study provides a detailed look at how many potential additional jobs and

Study reveals large untapped development potential around urban commuter rail stations

Spurring Transit-Oriented Development

A major new study from the nonpartisan think-tank MassINC finds that vacant and underutilized land surrounding 13 Gateway City commuter rail stations could house up to 230,000 residents and 230,000 jobs-double the number of people living and working in these station areas today. Decades of disinvestment have made it difficult for private real estate markets

Generating more geographically-balanced growth

Connecting Gateway Cities with Boston’s Job Cluster

Gateway Cities like Brockton, Lynn, and Worcester can play an important function generating more geographically-balanced growth throughout Massachusetts. These communities all have strong transit connections to Boston, which positions them to tap the hub’s valuable assets, including its major research institutions, sophisticated service providers, skilled-workforce, and global connections. As regional centers, the economic activity they

Building reverse commute ridership

A newfound opportunity for Gateway Cities

With thousands of new housing units going up in downtown Boston at the terminus of commuter rail lines, Gateway Cities have a newfound opportunity to draw reverse commuters and recapture some of the talent they have lost to Boston. The MBTA doesn’t track how many riders currently board in Boston and disembark in Gateway Cities.

Connecting rail riders from the station to jobs in the suburbs

Can shuttle services give Gateway City residents access to more jobs?

As we described in a previous post, job growth outside of the Boston core has overwhelmingly occurred at highway interchanges with limited access to public transportation. This phenomenon is partially attributable to the MBTA commuter rail’s hub-and-spoke model. By design, the system operates with one-directional aim—funneling suburban residents to jobs in Boston and Cambridge. Increasingly,

Increasing access to economic opportunity with affordable transit

A growing number of transit agencies discount fares for low-income riders

Rising rents are pushing low-income transit-dependent households awy from strong public transit and out to Gateway Cities, where service is less frequent. These residents have just two costly options to get to back to better paying jobs in Boston: driving or taking the commuter rail. Compared to the subway, with its flat fare of $2.25
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