Location Efficiency vs. Location, Location, Location

You hear a lot about "location, location, location" but given the challenging economic times a more relevant phrase would be “Location Efficiency.”

Recent articles such as “Long commutes make risky borrowers”, “Car dependent neighborhoods more at risk of foreclosures” and reports produced by organizations such as ULI, titled “Bay Area Burden: Examining the Costs and Impacts of Housing and Transportation on Bay Area Residents, Their Neighborhoods, and the Environment” and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) all focus on the high risk of car-dependent and lack of transit options as differentiators.

With transportation costs representing a significant financial expenditure accounting for roughly 17% of the average American household's income, public policies are encouraging location efficient land use, infrastructure and transportation options.

In an attempt to better understand the affordability tradeoffs with housing and transportation, the MTC commissioned the Center for Neighborhood Technology to analyze regional variations in housing and transportation affordability based on location. The report summary, Bay Area Housing and Transportation Affordability: A Closer Look , illustrates how the location affects the affordability of both housing and transportation.

Improved and Expanded Transit Options

According to AC Transit, starting March 28th 2010, the Prescott-Oakland Point neighborhood will have improved and expanded bus services to augment the numerous transit options available. For example Bus Line 26 (which replaced Line 13) will be GPS enabled, have peak hour runtimes of 15 minutes apart, off peak 30 minutes apart, starting 5:56am ending 12.58am (westbound) and starting 5:22 am, ending 12:22 am (eastbound) from the 12th and wood street bus stop.

Line 26 connects commuters to four (MacArthur, West Oakland, Downtown Oakland and Lake Merritt) different BART stations providing access to Temescal Restaurants, Marcus Book Store, Emery-Go Round, East Bay Bridge Retail, Oakland City Hall, Oakland Chinatown, Old Oakland, Oakland Downtown, Oakland City Center, Oakland Chinatown, Laney College, Oakland Museum and Lake Merritt.

The Bus Line 31 (which replaces the Line 19) offers similar options with links to Emeryville Amtrak station, Emery Bay Public Market, Bay Street Center, East Bay Bridge Center, Emery-Go-Round, West Oakland BART, Jack London Gateway Center, 12th Street BART, Alameda Marina Center, College of Alameda.

Ease of Use

With AC Transit buses now GPS enabled, commuters will have the ability to see “real-time” connection times using the home computer, laptops and smart phones while providing more efficient use of both personal and business time and certainty in transit options.

The Prescott-Oakland Point neighborhood located on the Western periphery of Oakland, with its many transit options, is slowly becoming the unofficial epicenter of the Bay Area and proves the relevance of “Location Efficiency.”

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March 28th 2010 Oakland Marathon Traffic Advisory

Partial Road closures as noted

• 7th Street (W/B) from Market to Mandela Parkway – 8:00 a.m to 1 p.m.

• Mandela Pkwy (N/B) from 7th to 32nd – 8:00 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.

• 32nd St (E/B) from Mandela to Hannah – 8:00 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.

• Hannah (S/B) from 32nd St to 28th – 8:00 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.

• 28th St. (E/B) from Hannah to West – 8:10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

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