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In Alameda County, CA, people who are transit-dependent (do not own a car) are more likely to be served by low-subsidized, unreliable transportation. 61% of AC Transit bus riders, compared to 16% of BART (light rail) riders, are transit dependent. 38% of AC Transit riders have household incomes of $25,000 or less, compated to only 13% of BART riders. AC Transit riders are more likely to be African American; BART riders white. Of all transit operators in the Bay Area, AC Transit has highest percentage of minority riders.
Alameda County Public Health Department. Life and death from unnatural causes: is inequality making us sick? 2008. Available at http://www.acphd.org/healthequity/index.htm. Accessed on August 29, 2009.
Metropolitan Transportation Commission. Transit passenger demographic survey. Presentation. Prepared by Godbe Research. 2007. Available at http://apps.mtc.ca.gov/meeting_packet_documents/agenda_878/5_MTC_Demographics_Survey_Presentation.pdf. Accessed August 29, 2009.In Alameda County, CA nearly one-quarter of African-American households do not own a vehicle – a much higher proportion than all other racial/ethnic groups.
Alameda County Public Health Department. Life and death from unnatural causes: is inequality making us sick? 2008. Available at: http://www.acphd.org/healthequity/index.htm. Accessed on August 29, 2009.Residents in low-income communities are less likely to own a car and 3 times less likely to have a grocery store within their neighborhood. Therefore these residents rely more heavily on mass transit to complete their shopping, and are more likely to shop at smaller local stores with less healthy food at higher prices.
Morland K, Wing, S, Diez Roux A, Poole C. Access to healthy foods limited in poor neighborhoods. Am J Prev Health. 2002;22(1):23-29.
Vallianatos M, Shaffer A, Gottlieb R. Transportation and food: the importance of access. Center for Food and Justice, Urban and Environmental Policy Institute. 2002. Available at: http://departments.oxy.edu/uepi/cfj/publications/transportation_and_food.pdf. Accessed on August 29, 2009.Low income parents identify transportation difficulties, such as high costs and inaccessibility, as a significant barrier to obtaining routine medical care for themselves and their children.
Flores G, Abreu M, Olivar MA, Kastner B. Access barriers to health care for Latino children. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 1998;152(11):1119-1125.Low income people and people of color continue to be more likely than affluent people and White people to live near freeway interchanges.
Pastor M, Sadd J, Morello-Frosch R. Still toxic after all these years: air quality and environmental justice in the San Francisco Bay Area. Center for Justice, Tolerance and Community, University of California, Santa Cruz. 2007.
Ash M, Fetter TR. Who lives on the wrong side of the environmental tracks? Evidence from the EPA’s risk-screening environmental indicators model. Soc Sci Q. 2007;85(2):441-462.
Morello-Frosch R, Pastor M, Sadd J. Environmental justice and southern California’s ‘riskscape’: the distribution of air toxics exposures and health risks among diverse communities. Urban Aff Rev. 2001;36(4):551-578.A “walkable” or “complete” or “livable” neighborhood, characterized by mixed residential and commercial uses with easy access to a variety of food and retail options, parks and open space, and modes of transport, can lead to more exercise and less obesity by significantly reducing the need to drive.
Handy S. Understanding the link between urban form and non-work traveling behavior. J Plan Educ Res. 1996;15:183-98.
Li F, Fisher KJ, Brownson RC, Bosworth M. Multilevel modelling of built environment characteristics related to neighbourhood walking activity in older adults. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2005;59(7):558-64.
Ewing R, Frank L, Kreutzer R. Understanding the relationship between public health and the built environment: a report to the LEED-ND Core Committee. 2006. Available at: http://www.usgbc.org/ShowFile.aspx?DocumentID=3901. Accessed August 9, 2009.
Frank L, Andresen MA, Schmid TL. Obesity relationships with community design, physical activity, and time spent in cars. Am J Prev Med. 2004;27(2):87-96.Well-designed, mixed-use development around transit nodes can increase patronage as much as 5 to 6 times compared to development away from transit.
Cervero R. Transit oriented development in the United States: experiences, challenges and prospects. Washington, DC.: Transportation Research Board; 2005.Families that pay >50% of their income on housing only spend 7.5% on transportation (they can only afford to spend that much). Families that pay >30% on housing spend nearly 24% of their household budget on transportation.
Lipman BJ. Something's gotta give: working families and the cost of housing. Washington, DC: Center for Housing Policy; 2005.Only 33% of low-income residents in Contra Costa County, CA have convenient walking or transit access to a health clinic, compared to 88% in denser, transit-served Alameda County.
Hobson J, Quiroz-Martinez J. Roadblocks to health: transportation barriers to healthy communities. Oakland, CA: Transportation and Land Use Coalition; 2002. Available at: http://transformca.org/files/reports/roadblocks-to-health.pdf. Accessed July 22, 2009.Authors of a study of fifteen low-income neighborhoods in the San Francisco Bay Area reported that 66% of residents had no transit access to a hospital and 48% lacked pedestrian access to a supermarket.
Hobson J, Quiroz-Martinez J. Roadblocks to health: transportation barriers to healthy communities. Oakland, CA: Transportation and Land Use Coalition; 2002. Available at: http://transformca.org/files/reports/roadblocks-to-health.pdf. Accessed July 22, 2009.