Access to Mobility
In any transportation network, there are "holes" — places and/or times that travelers are not well served. There may be gaps in carpool lane coverage, times when buses don't run, or missing links between arterials which push traffic onto local streets. Sometimes these holes become intimidating obstacles to people who have no car, are elderly or disabled, need affordable transit to get to school or work, or have other difficulties using the system.
The Transportation 2030 Plan (T2030) being designed by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) includes a goal, recently re-titled "Access to Mobility", to improve service for those who, due to age, disability, or income status, have difficulty using the existing public transit network. The Commission also dedicated $216 million in new funds over the 25-year horizon of the plan to support "lifeline services".
By broadening the goal in the new plan, the Commission has signaled its intent to look at the wider universe of mobility barriers for individuals, saying, "MTC must consider the needs of all travelers in striving for an equitable distribution of mobility benefits. Certain segments of the population have fewer mobility options and therefore require special attention in transportation planning: households without a car, school children, older adults, and the disabled."
MTC has convened a task force of stakeholders to determine how to implement the new goal, including establishing priorities for use of the new funding. The discussion has been complicated because many of the groups overlap. For example, some people are elderly and disabled, others are elderly and low-income, some children are low-income and disabled, etc. Furthermore, there is not a clear definition for each of these groups, and each faces its own unique transportation needs, some of which are being met and many of which are not. (See sidebar for MTC definitions). The new funds, while a good start, are not enough to meet the growing needs of all these constituencies.
In the 2001 RTP, the predecessor to Transportation 2030, the Commission established a Lifeline Transportation Program, to address the mobility needs of low-income persons. The Lifeline Transportation Program Report specifically focused on the ability of fixed-route transit to meet the needs of low-income neighborhoods, and used concentrations of welfare-to-work households to identify low-income communities.
Since then, MTC has continued to focus on transportation improvements in communities with many low-income residents, including preparing Community-Based Transportation Plans in as many as twenty-five disadvantaged communities (see December 2003/January 2004 issue). These Plans are intended to confirm the gaps identified through the 2001 Lifeline Report, prioritize those most critical to be met, and to identify potential strategies and cost estimates for addressing them. In some cases, the most appropriate solution may not be adding more bus service, but rather developing other types of non-traditional projects such as vanpools, guaranteed-ride home programs, or neighborhood shuttles.
A recent MTC staff report indicates that "lifeline transportation" needs are met at least partially through the provision of fixed-route public transit service, Americans with Disability Act (ADA) paratransit services, grants available through the federal Job Access and Reverse Commute (JARC) program, MTC's own LIFT (Low Income Flexible Transportation) program, and additional resources including dedicated school service provided by transit agencies. Other MTC investments, such as the Transportation for Livable Communities and Housing Incentive Program, also are targeted in part to disadvantaged communities, with 73% of TLC capital grants made in needy communities.
According to an advocacy coalition, the Transportation Justice Working Group, the new funding is probably only 10% of what is needed in the region to fully serve the unmet transportation needs of groups which often have difficulty with access to the system. The coalition claims that the total cost of filling the gaps has not been accurately estimated.
In addition, some would argue that an investment in low-cost student bus passes, for example, will do little to help disabled riders who need an investment in additional low-floor buses or better paratransit. Members of MTC's Elderly and Disabled Advisory Committee have told the Commission, "We believe that the Lifeline Transportation Program should fund the development of transportation infrastructure for all transportation disadvantaged populations in the Bay Area."
In response to the issues raised by the EDAC and others in the task force, Commission members have clarified the ways in which the new goal will be achieved. The title of the goal was changed from "Lifeline Mobility" to "Access to Mobility", reserving the term "lifeline" for strategies intended for low-income persons, as has been the case in the past.
The Commission also clarified that the $216 million in new funding is designated for low-income communities. Of course, due to the overlaps, service to low-income residents often benefits other groups as well. A case in point is the 70-90% of fixed route transit service which is estimated to serve lifeline transportation needs, and which obviously serves many other riders as well, including more well-to-do elderly, disabled or children.
Stakeholders will now be asked to develop recommendations for meeting other mobility needs included in the goal statement. These could include improvements to paratransit and accessibility to fixed route service, safety for pedestrians and wheelchair users, and school transportation.
The Access to Mobility Task Force will seek to reach consensus on developing principles to be included in the T2030 plan. Such principles may include identifying gaps through planning processes such as the Community Based Transportation Plans, creating a process to evaluate the program's outcomes, advocating for new funding, and expanding the program through cooperation with other agencies. Pilot projects can be used to stimulate innovation and flexibility. There has already been considerable discussion on ways to leverage funds by coordinating with existing services outside the formal transportation network, such as shuttle services operated by nonprofits or healthcare providers.
Some strategies may not require additional money, but rather changes in policies and in awareness, such as rehabilitating older neighborhoods with transit accessibility in mind, or finding ways to keep offices near transit affordable for social services agencies which serve transit-dependent clients. These might be integrated with MTC's Transportation and Land-Use Platform.
Connie Soper, MTC staff, notes that the lifeline transportation needs in the region are constantly changing. "We are in a different place today than a year ago," she says, because changes in the economy have affected how people use the transportation system to access work, childcare and health services. The principles for the Access to Mobility programs which will be included in T2030 will need to be general enough to apply to 25 years of such changes, but specific enough to give guidance and hope to those who are striving to plug the holes in the network so that everyone can use transportation services.
Leslie Stewart