Transit Oriented Development (TOD), as defined by the American Public Transit Association (APTA), is "compact, mixed use development near new or existing public transportation infrastructure that serves housing, transportation and neighborhood goals. Its pedestrian-oriented design encourages residents and workers to drive their cars less and ride mass transit more."

Presented here are the findings of a survey of best practices for facilitating successful TOD, as employed by other agencies, to be used as a basis for developing guidelines for RTA. Also presented here, and springing from the findings of the survey, are a set of TOD guidelines developed for RTA to promote vibrant and livable station areas that benefit RTA customers and the surrounding community, as well as promote the use of RTA as a primary means of transportation.