Transit-Oriented Communities (TOC) and Transit-Oriented Developments (TOD)

BART train leaving the Hayward BART station on a sunny, clear day

TOCs are the areas around transit hubs where housing, jobs, services, and businesses can thrive in a growing community. By coordinating transportation, land use, and community needs, the City is working to create neighborhoods where more people can get where they need to go without relying on a car for every trip.

By constructing TODs within these transit-rich areas, Hayward strives to make it easier to live, work, and thrive near transit while supporting vibrant, inclusive neighborhoods for current and future residents.

Why TOCs and TODs Matter

When communities are planned around transit, residents have more choices in how they get around and reduce their household costs on transportation. New housing and destinations near transit can help shorten trips, support local businesses, reduce traffic and emissions, and make healthier, cost-effective travel more convenient. They provide regional access while still designing for local priorities.

By bringing together transportation, housing, planning, development, and economic priorities, the City can:

  • Create vibrant neighborhoods: Support local shops, services, jobs, and public institutions near transit.
  • Improve transit access: Make it safer and easier to walk, bike, or roll to an array of transit options.
  • Support more housing: Encourage developing more housing in our City, with a variety of housing types.
  • Reduce household costs: By locating housing and other services near transit, the proportion of a household’s cost for transportation is reduced.
  • Strengthen local businesses: Help commercial districts near transit remain active, accessible, and resilient with locally invested customers and employees.
  • Advance equity: Center communities that have historically experienced barriers to opportunity and investment, such as our disability or lower-income communities.
  • Coordinate public investment: Align infrastructure and neighborhood improvements to maximize community benefits.

These goals are aligned with those set forth in the City’s General Plan, and Housing and Mobility Elements, and help Hayward meet community needs for affordable housing and transportation options as the city grows. This work is about creating places that are connected, welcoming, and designed around the needs of the people who live, work, and visit them.

Explore the Work

The City of Hayward has two geographies where we are advancing this sustainable growth. They are near the Hayward BART station and Downtown area, and the South Hayward BART station and Mission Boulevard area.

While development policies will guide this work over future decades, the City’s Transportation Division is working today to make these areas more comfortable, accessible, and inviting through improvements to streets, sidewalks, crossings, bicycle connections, safety improvements, lighting upgrades, and other neighborhood amenities.

MTC Transit-Oriented Communities

Hayward is working to align City policies with regional goals and best practices. This includes housing and commercial density around transit, affordable housing production and preservation, parking management, and station accessibility. See more at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission website here: https://mtc.ca.gov/planning/land-use/transit-oriented-communities-toc-policy

The City received a grant to help us achieve these specific TOC goals by July 2027, and is making good progress! We are currently conducting outreach and stakeholder listening sessions to create policies that advance existing community-driven goals toward regionally aligned metrics in sustainable ways. If you use or would like to use South Hayward BART, take our current station access survey here: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/8deUNLkbfG 

BART Transit-Oriented Development

BART is advancing TODs by creating affordable housing on underutilized land adjacent to stations where development can make a substantial impact. Hayward and South Hayward are two priorities for the regional transit-provider, and they are advancing projects to add more housing options where they are needed most. In July 2026, the BART Board of Directors approved a set of goals and objectives for development on their downtown Hayward BART station property. These goals are specific to our Hayward community’s needs and were developed after conducting community outreach. See more at the BART website here: https://www.bart.gov/about/business/tod 

Data & Resources

Explore maps, reports, studies, and other resources related to transit-oriented communities.

Are You a Developer Interested in Hayward?

Reach out to our Planning Division at planning.division@hayward-ca.gov today to see how your TOD project can help us meet our TOC objectives.