[This is an EXCERPT: read the whole article and more commentary on metropolitan regions on Citiwire.net. -Ed.]

By Neal Peirce

Public transit was scorned by vast majorities of Americans for a half century after World War II. But might it become the central development key for America’s 21st century cities and their metro regions?

That’s the audacious “green” formula of the authors of a just-released blue-ribbon commission report– “Sustainability and the MTA” –for New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

But the secret’s not just having more transit lines–though the commission recommends the MTA do just that. It’s about shifting zoning and other policies to make sure the lion’s share of new residential and business development is located in transit-accessible city and neighborhood cores. And then insisting the “last mile” of transit accessibility be covered by flexible feeder buses as well as pedestrian and bike improvements.

Could a New York-style formula apply to regions nationwide? Absolutely, asserts Robert Yaro, a member of MTA’s blue ribbon commission and president of New York’s Regional Plan Assn.: “If this process were replicated in the 45-plus U.S. metros that already have urban and regional rail systems, which collectively are home to two-thirds of our national population, it would go a long ways towards achieving national mobility, a national climate and energy strategy.”

Photo credit: Cheryl & Rich