01479814

Component

Since the 1990s, the concept of competitive economic clusters, export oriented industries that are geographically clustered and linked to one another through trading or other arrangements that signify regional specialization, has become an important tool of regional economic development. In this study the authors use the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area to identify its regional competitive clusters and look at the role the current metropolitan transit system plays in providing access to jobs in these sectors. The authors identify nine clusters for the region and find that the clusters exhibit different location patterns which affects their ability to be served by transit. The authors argue that understanding the connection between transit systems and regional competitive clusters have critical policy implications for increasing transit ridership, reducing negative consequences associated extensive auto use, strengthening existing economic clusters by expanding the labor force access, and improving the accessibility for those that are transit dependent in the region to jobs in these sectors. To ensure that jobs with different skill requirements are encompassed in this analysis, the authors use an expanded definition of economic clusters where a range of industrial sectors are linked together through trading relationships. Though these clusters at their center are anchored by the sectors considered the drivers of the regional economy, the related sectors the authors identify as part of these clusters constitute a range of employers and labor force needs. The framework allows for focusing on the regions strengths and ensuring that people of varying transportation needs can participate in these growing sectors.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADD10 Transportation and Economic Development.

01470560

13-5062

English

18p

2013

Transportation Research Board 92nd Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; References; Tables

Accessibility; Cluster analysis; Jobs; Policy making; Public transit

Economics; Policy; Public Transportation; I10: Economics and Administration

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2013 Paper #13-5062

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Feb 5 2013 12:58PM