Transit and Shopping Centers: An Initial Investigation

Federal Transit Administration 50th Anniversaryhttps://doi.org/10.21949/15274321979PDFTech ReportSchneider, Jerry B.Heid, James L.Smith, Stephen P.Saito, Doyle S.Cotterall, Kathleen E.University of Washington. Urban Transportation ProgramUnited States. Urban Mass Transportation AdministrationUnited States. Urban Mass Transportation AdministrationUnited StatesShopping centersShoppingTransit mallsMarketingTransfer centersLow densityBus serviceRegional shoppingSuburban busTransit serviceMass transitUMTA-MA-09-0050-80-1PB 80-131360Initial investigation. July 1978 - August 1979This report examines the explosive growth of the shopping center during the last 23 years as well as factors influencing travel to large regional malls, and the current trends that will affect regional malls in the future. The focus herein is on large shopping malls (ranging in size from 800,000-2,000,000 square feet of gross leasable area; having 4,000-15,000 auto parking spaces; and located 6-20 miles from "downtown" of the central city). The objectives of this study are to (1) examine current approaches to providing transit service to these malls, and (2) develop recommendations for gaining a larger share of this travel market for public transit. The results of 27 case studies in 18 U.S. and one Canadian City are presented. They describe what transit service is being provided, how and why it is being used (or ignored) at these 27 regional malls. Nine case studies describe innovative transit projects that are still in the planning stage. The case studies were written primarily for transit operators and should be of interest to others\u2014urban planners, traffic engineers, mall developers and operators, architects, and both transit system and retailer marketing people. Recommendations are presented that would assist U.S. transit agencies in gaining a ten percent share of this huge (6-7 billion trips annually) travel market in the 1980' s. The authors state that to achieve said objective, private/public sector cooperation is needed as well as experimentation with innovative transit provision techniques, development of improved analysis and planning methods, and basic data gathering pf forts.138