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August 24, 2011
Speaking of Equity
A couple of recent and very insightful reports on transportation equity:
- Brookings has analyzed transit access among households that don't have access to cars and in some places it's not very pretty (but maybe not so bad here).
- Another report (PDF, 361K) looks at some of the same data an analyzes it on a racial and ethnic basis and finds some big disparities.
Posted by Chris Smith at 12:29 AM
Comments
August 27, 2011 3:17 AM
jim karlock Says:
I looked at the Tribune article and found this:
The report also found typical Portland-Vancouver residents can reach 51 percent of all jobs by transit within 90 minutes.
JK: Lets see, a 90 minute commute, that's a THREE hour round trip commute on transit. To reach only 51% of jobs!
What is a three hour round tip commute? Add 8 working hours and 8 hrs sleep and you get 5 hours with your family. If that were a more typical USA average automobile 25 min commute (each way), you would have 40% more time with your family.
Looks like we would best serve these people by helping them get a car, so they wont waste so much time on transit!
thanks
JK
August 27, 2011 9:50 AM
ws Says:
Our nation's reliance on cars for employment is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
We build the auto-based landscape and are surprised when we realize that you can't get a job without a car. Shocker there.
Most businesses in the US give more land area to parking than they do to their business' indoor square footage! And that's not to say you don't need parking but the land area devoted to parking spreads everything out and makes it a defacto "choice" to drive.
It's amazing how much money and resources we've poured into this dead-end landscape.
August 29, 2011 3:27 AM
Jason Barbour Says:
I looked at the Tribune article and found...
I looked at the actual Brookings site and found this:
http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/papers/2011/0818_transportation_tomer/0818_transportation_profiles/38900.pdf
This is an overview of the actual report for the Portland Metro Area.
- 97% of zero-car households in the Portland Metro Area are near a transit stop.
- If one has a car, they're likely less able to access a job on transit, as the 51% figure drops to 40% of jobs reachable on transit within 90 minutes.
- Portland exceeds the national average of 40%/29% jobs access on transit, which is mentioned in the main Brookings narrative.
How would this help someone who's unable to drive said vehicle? Remember that many out there are capable of living productive lives but are unable to drive.
August 29, 2011 7:38 AM
Chris I Says:
And countless more that are capable of living productive lives but probably shouldn't be driving...
August 29, 2011 7:45 AM
R A Fontes Says:
AV's anyone?
