Trip and parking generation at transit-oriented developments: a case study of Redmond TOD, Seattle region

The decision on how best to allocate land around transit stations is a debated topic, with transit officials often opting for park‐and‐ride lots over active uses such as multifamily housing, office, and retail organized into transit‐oriented developments (TODs). In this study, we identify the ten best self‐contained TODs in ten regions across United States based on seven criteria: dense, mixed‐use, pedestrian‐friendly, adjacent to transit, built after transit, fully developed, and with self‐contained parking. We measure trip and parking generation at one of these TODs, the Redmond TOD in the Seattle region, as a pilot study, using an onsite count and intercept survey. The results show that the Redmond TOD has 1.7 times more trips made by walking and 3 times more trips made by transit than Seattle’s regional average. The actual vehicle trips we observed are only 37 % of the Institute of Transportation Engineers’ (ITE) expected value. The actual residential peak period parking demand is only 65 % of the ITE’s peak demand, and the actual commercial peak period parking demand is only 27 % of the ITE’s peak demand. Additionally, the peak period of transit parking was daytime, while the peak periods of commercial and residential were evening and nighttime. There is a real opportunity for sharing parking spaces among these different uses, something which is not realized at present.