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To address a housing shortfall, reduce congestion, and improve environmental quality,
Unfortunately this will not happen. Denser development will increase congestion and associated air pollution. Why? Because too few people will use the train.
the City/County Association of Governments of San Mateo County (C/CAG) provides incentives for land use agencies (20 constituent cities as well as the county) to create housing near transit stations. C/CAG allocates up to 10 percent of State Transportation Improvement Program funds for the San Mateo County TOD Incentive Program. The program provides a financial incentive for local land use authorities to develop housing near transit stations.

Under the program, a jurisdiction receives incentive funds based on the number of bedrooms in the housing units. Typically, eligible projects receive up to $2,000 per bedroom. In order to be eligible for the program, housing must be within one-third of a mile of a rail transit station, and density must be at least 40 units per acre. In the event that the program is oversubscribed, C/CAG may reduce the funding per bedroom or provide additional funding to the program. Land use agencies only get the funding once the units are built or are under construction. Funds are then used to support improvements either on- or off-site as determined by the land use agency. In addition to direct transportation improvements, some general improvements such as landscaping, lighting, sidewalks, plazas, and recreational projects are allowed.

For the first cycle, October 1999 to September 2001, C/CAG programmed $2.3 million to the TOD Incentive Program to support development of 1,282 bedrooms in five projects. The second cycle, February 2002 to February 2004, has programmed over $2.9 million for 10 projects to facilitate the creation of 2,407 bedrooms.

Highlights

Interest from Other Jurisdictions
The "success" of C/CAG’s TOD Incentive Program has encouraged other jurisdictions to implement similar programs. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the metropolitan planning organization for the San Francisco Bay Area, adopted a Housing Incentive Program based on C/CAG’s model. Legislation being considered at the state level would create a similar program. Sacramento, Fresno, and Monterey Counties (in California) are also considering similar programs.

Integration with Transportation Planning
The TOD Incentive Program recognizes that coordinating land use and transportation is critical to achieving an efficient transportation system and making the best use of tax dollars. C/CAG’s approach is an innovative use of transportation funds that provides incentives to land use decision-makers to achieve transit-oriented development.

Sounds like they know what they're doing don't they?

How many people aspire to live with no garden, neighbors thru the wall playing their stereo, dog barking, having to keep the blinds down for privacy, and no privacy outside either?
How much have they got transit right, in the past? 
What happens to rail if business moves out of the city? 
How much do YOU want to live next to a railway line?
What are the chances of the train dropping you off within walking distance of your work?
Will the train run frequently enuf for you to endure the waiting and scheduling?
Will the expense of rail detract from a more flexible bus service in suburbia?
How many people will need to take the train to make any significant change to freeway congestion?
How should our tax dollars be most cost-effectively spent to make the biggest difference to traffic congestion &  air pollution? 
Find out what history has told us already at   http://www.marincounty.info/CarTransit/USTransportCost.htm