Indicators for transit oriented development (TOD) readiness in Iskandar Malaysia

Abstract

Transit Oriented Development (TOD), an integrated approach for transportation and land use planning is seen as one of the best alternatives for urban sprawl. To date, there is lack of standard measurement indicators to assess TOD, especially in Malaysia. The lack of spatially measurement indicators will lead to a wrong perception of the best implementation criteria for successful TOD planning. The study examined indicators for TOD readiness in Iskandar Malaysia (IM) based on significant indicators that define the TOD concept. Four stations along Jalan Skudai- Jalan Wong Ah Fook were selected as they had been proposed for TOD development. In the first stage, based on literature review, four TOD indicators significant with IM context, namely density (population and employment), mixed use and land use diversity were analysed. To further analyse these indicators, secondary data that included the population and type of land uses obtained from Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA) and Majlis Bandaraya Johor Bahru (MBJB) office were used. Based on the population and employment density analysis, Station 1 was found to have the highest density (295 persons per acre and 137 employments per acre). Meanwhile, the mixed use index between residential and commercial for all stations was dominated by low level of mixed use which was below 0.20. Similarly, for diversity indicators, all the stations had low variation in intensity of land use. Next, in the second stage, ‘Weighted Overlay’ analysis computed by ArcGIS10.1 software was used to identify the station ready for TOD. Besides that, ten structured interviews were conducted randomly with selected professional urban planners in the government and private sector to assign the weight of the selected indicators based on its level of significance in relation to the success of TOD. All the indicators were reclassified and percentages of the influence were assigned based on their importance. Respondents suggested that a weight of 35% should be assigned for population density and 30% percent for employment density. In addition, 20% of weight should be assigned for mixed-use whereas 10% should be for diversity indicators. The results from that analysis showed that Station 1 with TOD score of 1.00 was the most suitable to be developed as a TOD area. This was followed by Station 4 with a TOD score of 0.91, categorised as moderate but has a high potential to be developed as a successful TOD. The findings showed that, Station 1 and Station 4 relatively had the highest scores for the four selected indicators and proved that the current development is concurrent with TOD indicators. However, improvements on the level of mixed use and diversity are needed to ensure the readiness of TOD in IM. The study concludes that future developments in TOD nodes should possess high levels of population and employment density s well as mixed use and diversity as these four TOD indicators can determine the success of TOD planning.