FTA defines ped, bike catchment areas

Ped: half mile from transit

David Crossley, Aug 22, 11.

The Federal Transit Administration has issued a formal policy on the eligibility of pedestrian and bicycle improvements for FTA funding and has defined the catchment area for pedestrians and bicyclists in relation to public transportation stops and stations.

The FTA has decided on a one-half mile pedestrian catchment area, noting that “pedestrians generally are able to walk a distance of approximately one-half mile during a fifteen minute walk at a two mile per hour pace.”

It has set the bicycle catchment area as as within a three mile radius.

In both measurements, FTA will use a radial measure because that “simplifies these determinations and avoids the complex decision-making that a “street network radius” would foster.”

From the Introduction to the policy statement:

The purpose of this notice is to simplify the process for determining whether a pedestrian or bicycle improvement qualifies for FTA funding by defining a radius around a public transportation stop or station within which FTA will consider pedestrian and bicycle improvements to have a de facto functional relationship to public transportation. For the reasons outlined in this Policy Statement, and for purposes of determining whether a pedestrian or bicycle improvement has a physical or functional relationship to public transportation, all pedestrian improvements located within one-half mile and all bicycle improvements located within three miles of a public transportation stop or station shall have a de facto physical and functional relationship to public transportation. Pedestrian and bicycle improvements beyond these distances may be eligible for FTA funding by demonstrating that the improvement is within the distance that people will travel by foot or by bicycle to use a particular stop or station.