Expensive eyesore or seizing the opportunity?

I had the pleasure of working in both Boston and New York City once again in recent weeks which included an Amtrak Acela trip between the two cities. Such overseas trips are always an opportunity to explore and absorb the approach fellow professionals take to similar challenges.

Right now that shared challenge is the redevelopment of major city centre railway stations and transit interchanges. In both countries they are exploring greater participation of the private sector in the financing, design and delivery of major reconstruction projects. It was in this context that I came across an opinion piece that I spotted in the New York Post about stations and which I am sharing here. The online version I here is less emotively titled than the "Eyesores 'R' Us - stations are 'grand' but not good" headline that caught my eye in the hardcopy.

Whilst I would take issue with much of what the author (Nicole Gelinas) writes there is much to be said about the benefit of hindsight and the demand she places on functional and performing spaces. However, the challenge of functionality is not just an issue for new stations but for existing ones. Boston South Station (pictured above) illustrates a currently sub-optimal approach in my opinion. My perception from a couple of visits is that it's a cluttered mess of visual noise and convenience food outlets mixed with inadequate seating that and poor quality information to generally leave an underwhelming experience for a passenger and a place to be avoided for the non-passenger.

However, I believe the article misses the potential that a well designed, managed and presented station can have on its neighbourhood. Previous research Steer Davies Gleave did in the UK demonstrated significant local tax/rateable increases as property adjacent to station became more valuable. Others we spoke to identified the catalytic effect of triggering new partnership working in the area and how a good scheme provided confidence for further inward investment and strengthening of local identity.

The Rail Delivery Group have asked us to revisit the issue of the benefits of investment in stations and their surroundings and we're now in the process of gathering evidence to help define the potential rewards from good quality stations. Got a relevant story to tell please drop me a line.