Twin Cities' Residents Near Transit Found to Be Happier - Urban Land Magazine

What intrigued me about this article is how they determined whether or not people are "happy." As we know, we are all supposedly "pursuing happiness." But how do you know if you are there? This is what they did in the study. Click title for link to entire article.

Sociologists and psychologists have spent a lot of time figuring out how to turn happiness into something they can count. “I used a scale developed by a psychologist,” says Cao. He asked his respondents to rate on a scale of one to seven how strongly they agreed with statements like “In most ways my life is close to my ideal,” and “So far I have achieved the important things I want in my life,” and “If I could live my life over again, I would change almost nothing.”
Other statements dealt with travel: “I am completely satisfied with my daily travel,” and “When I think of my daily travel, the positive aspects outweigh the negative,” for example.
Most respondents said they were to some extent satisfied with both their travel and their lives. But residents close to the light rail reported being significantly more satisfied with both. The difference was not huge—just a few tenths of a point on Cao’s seven-point scale on average—but it was consistent and clear enough to be statistically significant.
“If you are isolated—if you cannot go where you want to go—that is going to affect your quality of life,” says Cao.
The people who ride the Hiawatha Line also benefit from the ability to do useful things while they ride the light rail, which they could not do if they were driving. “You can use the time to read your paper and talk to your friends,” he says.

 I wonder how "happy" people are on Lake Osborne Drive, particularly Lakeside Gardens?