Transforming Communities with Transit

Mariia Zimmerman, Principal of MZ Strategies, LLC joins regional leaders from across the greater Minneapolis-St.Paul region on May 22 at the University of Minnesota's Center for Transportation Studies annual research conference to discuss the impacts of recent transit investments. Zimmerman will facilitate a policy session focused on the role transit plays on regional job accessibility, economic development and real estate, and the funding and social equity implications of accelerating transit investment to serve more suburban and urban communities.

More information on the session, including details on registration are available through this link.

This session builds upon the findings from the Transitway Impact Research Program (TIRP), a multi-year, cross disciplinary effort to explore the impacts of transitways on regional land use, travel patterns and economy. TIRP was launched in 2006 by the Hennepin–University Partnership and has grown to include a mix of state, regional, and local jurisdictional partners  Last fall, MZ Strategies authored a 24-page research summary that highlights key findings from the past 8 year's of TIRP research.

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Minnesota's Transit Climate Change – The value of communicating benefits and getting policies right

Money is not the only barrier to transit investment or to supporting development of new housing, job centers, schools or community facilities along transit-served corridors. New efforts in the Twin Cities illustrate two key ingredients required for a transit climate change: effectively communicating the benefits of transit, and removing administrative barriers to development. The beauty of these two are that they cost relatively little, and can be game changers for the short and long-term.

 

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