Public Transit Access to Private Property

Under contract with the Florida Department of Transportation, the Center for Urban Transportation Research was asked to (a) assess the issues surrounding the legal rights of public transit agencies to enter and serve private property, (b) and identify the major concerns of private property owners as they relate to allowing access to their property by public transit providers. The scope of the project included a literature review to identify any current practices related to developing public transit access to private properties and any news articles that reported instances in which public transit access was denied or withdrawn by private entities; a case review of legal publications to identify cases that involve public or private access, or both, to privately owned major commercial properties; a summary of federal, state, and local case law to determine the legal rights of public transit agencies as pertaining to access to private properties; a written survey to 67 public transit providers in the United States (including the nation’s 30 largest systems as determined by annual ridership); a written survey to selected private property developers, owners, and managers in the United States to identify successful and unsuccessful transit access practices; development of specific state and local government model regulations and development codes that shall support the access of public transit vehicles to private properties; and development of recommendations for successfully achieving public transit access to major private properties, with a corresponding document on transit access to private property negotiation guidelines. Addressed here are only the results of the literature review and surveys of transit properties and property developers and managers.