Exo wants to start real estate development
Exo wants to diversify from running trains and get into real estate development.
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Nicholas 22:51 on 2025-04-29 Permalink
Exo already has twice as many bus riders as it has train riders. And in some places transit agencies do pretty well with real estate, developing density near stations, which creates housing or commercial with an appetite for generating transit trips. Though after the REM, maybe a transit agency building real estate will go better than a real estate company building transit.
roberto 08:17 on 2025-04-30 Permalink
Why is it soo difficult to accept that public transit doesn’t have to be profitable? Don’t we have other branches of government better suited for real estate development?
Nicholas 10:13 on 2025-04-30 Permalink
It’s not that it has to make a profit; most systems outside of East Asia don’t. But if it doesn’t, government has to fill the gap, and our current governments, at all three levels, of widely varying political stripes, seem unwilling to do so, because voters are unwilling to make it a priority over other spending or taxes or higher fares.
dhomas 11:16 on 2025-04-30 Permalink
I’m of two minds on this. If done right, the proceeds from the real estate could go to better fund transit via additional frequency, more buses/trains, or even more infrastructure. But transit should remain the main focus. That is to say, building out transit where there is a need and where there is a sufficient population to use it already.
The flip side to this is if it becomes a real estate venture that happens to do transit, like Nicholas hinted at above. They could build out new stations to places with no density but where they have already bought land. It would likely lead to more sprawl and goes counter to what public transit should be, IMO.
Ian 18:34 on 2025-04-30 Permalink
This is precisely what the REM is attempting north of the 40.