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AMERICAN PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATION

Executive Summary

The Role of Transit in Support of High Growth Business Clusters in the U.S.

A white paper prepared by Economic Development Research Group, Inc. for the American Public Transportation Association, December 2013.

This study addresses issues of business productivity, market access and transit service for high growth business clusters in the United States.

A cross-section of clusters was selected to represent a diversity of key characteristics:

Key findings from these cases and the accompanying national-level analysis are:

• All of the examined clusters are rich with examples of firms choosing locations in proximity to other firms and actively seeking ways to get people to these places.
• There are very real transportation access constraints looming that will affect the growth of high tech business clusters and the competitiveness of US firms. Those constraints apply (to some extent) across all such business clusters.
• Efforts are currently being spearheaded by the private sector to develop transit to sustain the cluster location and ensure workforce accessibility.
• Between 379,000 and 480,000 jobs could potentially affected by the year 2040, depending on steps taken to address the transportation capacity constraint.
• Transit access to clusters could support approximately 104,000 of these jobs, along with their associated $13.6 Billion in annual business output, $5.7 Billion in wage income and nearly $8.6 Billion in GDP.
• Given constraints on continued roadway system expansion (detailed in the case studies), there is a solid case for expanding the future role of public transportation to support growth of high tech business clusters.

Download full version (PDF): The Role of Transit in Support of High Growth Business Clusters in the U.S

About the American Public Transportation Association
www.apta.org
“To strengthen and improve public transportation, APTA serves and leads its diverse membership through advocacy, innovation and information sharing. APTA and its members and staff work to ensure that public transportation is available and accessible for all Americans in communities across the country.” 

Tags: American Public Transportation Association, APTA, business, Economic Research Group

This entry was posted on Friday, December 20th, 2013 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Funding, Infra Views, Public Transportation, Transit . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.