Skip to main content

Free report asks: can land ‘value capture’ help fund transit projects?

The Mineta Transportation Institute in the US has released its newest research report, Decision Support Framework for Using Value Capture to Fund Public Transit: Lessons from Project-Specific Analysis. The research investigates the viability of land "value capture" (VC) to help generate revenue for transit provision. Five VC mechanisms are evaluated in depth, including tax increment financing (TIF), special assessment districts (SADs), transit impact fees, joint developments, and air rights. The report incl
May 11, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
The 5277 Mineta Transportation Institute in the US has released its newest research report, Decision Support Framework for Using Value Capture to Fund Public Transit: Lessons from Project-Specific Analysis. The research investigates the viability of land "value capture" (VC) to help generate revenue for transit provision. Five VC mechanisms are evaluated in depth, including tax increment financing (TIF), special assessment districts (SADs), transit impact fees, joint developments, and air rights. The report includes policy recommendations. Principal investigators were Shishir Mathur, Ph.D., and Adam Smith, MUP. The free 200-page report is available as a %$Linker: External 0 0 0 oLinkExternal PDF download here Decision Support Framework for Using Value Capture to Fund Public Transit: Lessons from Project-Specific Analysis Report false http://www.transweb.sjsu.edu/project/1004.html%20 false false%>.

"This report reviews five VC mechanisms ¬and evaluates the performance of each one through numerous case studies using several criteria," said Mathur. "These criteria include enabling legal environment, stakeholder support, institutional capacity, revenue yield, revenue stability, and equity. We also developed a decision-support matrix to help policy makers, local governments, and transit agencies decide which mechanism or which combination of mechanisms would meet their needs."

He noted that the US federal government has reinforced the need to integrate land use with transportation and to provide public transit. However, fiscal belt-tightening at all levels of government has made it more urgent to identify alternate funding sources for public transportation. He said funding transit is especially difficult because transit typically requires large subsidies. Value capture is one possible funding source. Based on the benefits received principle, VC captures public infrastructure-led increases in land value.

Related Content

  • April 18, 2019
    Quarter of Brits ‘would fund smart city solutions from tax’
    Almost a quarter (24%) of British people would be willing to fund smart city solutions using their own tax contributions, according to new research from ATG Access. Part of road barrier specialist ATG’s ‘Smart cities: Turning the dream into a reality’ report, the research found that more than half (57%) would be happy for their tax to go towards smart traffic lights, and 44% for smarter signs which give real-time traffic updates. Nearly a quarter (24%) said they would also be willing to fund smart barrie
  • August 20, 2014
    Enhanced WISETRIP final event
    The Enhanced WISETRIP final event, which takes place in Brussels on 29 August, will provide an opportunity to showcase the achievements of the Enhanced WISETRIP project and contribute to the debate on priorities for delivering EU-wide multi-modal travel information. Enhanced WISETRIP has developed a unified intermodal planner for international journeys which incorporates functions for planning, booking and travelling multimodal journeys adapted to user needs including multiple trip criteria, environment
  • March 27, 2013
    Second call for SUM funding applications
    The European Commission's Sustainable Urban Mobility (SUM) campaign has launched a second call for SUM funding applications. The funding available under this second call will co-finance campaign initiatives taking place during the period from 1 July 2013 to 30 June 2014. Applications for the second round of funding must be submitted before 12:00 (CET) on 31 May 2013. A committee of experts will select one winning promotional action per country based on a pre-defined set of evaluation and eligibility criteri
  • May 10, 2012
    Report on the impact of recession on infrastructure funding worldwide
    A new report examines how aggressive government belt-tightening and financial market deleveraging restrained worldwide infrastructure investments for 2012 and probably for the next five years. In the US, for instance, Infrastructure2012: Spotlight on Leadership, released by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and Ernst & Young, says that constrained public budgets and a growing recognition at the local level of the importance of infrastructure, combined with lack of action at the federal level, are causing state