A new report takes a look at what the NJ Transit Friendly Communities program has accomplished, and provides a refreshing look at how to deal with parking near train stations. The report, entitled Building a Transit Friendly Community was compiled by NJ Transit, NJ Office of Smart Growth, Downtown NJ, Inc, NJ Future, Project for Public Spaces, the Regional Plan Association, and Voorhees Transportation Policy Institute.

NJ Transit created the Transit Friendly Community program in 1999 with a $500,000 grant from the Federal Highway Administration and a $300,000 grant from NJ Transit and NJ Community Affairs The program was set up as a means for state agencies, mainly NJ Transit, to work with local communities to help them encourage transit-oriented development (TOD). 11 communities were chosen for the pilot project: Bayonne, Hackensack, Hillsdale, Hoboken, Matawan, Palmyra, Plainfield, Red Bank, Riverton, Rutherford, and Trenton. In contrast to the NJ transit village program – which awards towns that have already succeeded in encouraging TOD - the transit-friendly community program starts at the beginning, helping towns establish transit friendly areas around train stations.

The report indicates that the transit friendly community program has gotten off to a good start. For example, the program has helped design new pedestrian friendly stations at Trenton and Rutherford and assisted in the construction of a new station in Red Bank which is designed to also serve as a community center. Bayonne has also taken TOD recommended zoning into account in station area plans around the South Jersey Light Rail, which is expected to open in the fall.

The report also takes a more thoughtful approach on parking than others of its kind, saying that more parking is not necessarily the best solution for communities. It says that commuter parking "need not dominate the station area either aesthetically or physically" and promotes the dual use of commuter parking with that of retail or entertainment complexes. The report warns that larger park-and -ride lots should "not become an undifferentiated sea of parking where pedestrian circulation is disregarded" and mentions shuttle buses and jitneys as a reliable non-automobile option to get to the station. 

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