Expanding Access

Expanding Access

Expanding Access is one of the five pillars in the 2023 update of the DOT Equity Action Plan.  Read more about the pillar, metrics for measuring progress toward it, and highlighted actions below.

Outcome

Increased social and economic opportunity for disadvantaged and underserved communities from the provision of affordable multi-modal transportation options and the development of a transportation cost burden measure.

Metrics

• Reduce national transportation cost burden by 5%, including transportation travel cost as a percent of income, by FY 2030.
• Increase safe, affordable, multimodal access to key destinations, including: work, education, grocery stores, health care, affordable housing, and recreation.
• Reduce the race fatality ratio by population, meaning the national percentage of roadway fatalities per race over the percentage of population per race.
• Decrease in number of passengers with disabilities whose wheelchairs are damaged during air travel and who are injured in transfers to/from aircraft.

Barriers to Equity

Higher Transportation Costs

• The transportation cost burden experienced by an individual is influenced by numerous factors. Inadequate coordination of land use, housing, and transportation policy and investment leads to inefficient transportation options that negatively impact social, economic, and health outcomes. These factors can vary substantially across communities.[i]

• There are many “transit deserts” across the country, which are areas that have a demand for transit but lack the accessible transit services and infrastructure to meet that demand. The inability to access jobs, schools, health care, and social service organizations leads to higher rates of unemployment, poverty, chronic illness, and isolation.[ii]
• Decades of transportation and land use policy have focused on mobility for automobile users making car ownership a necessity. This bias has limited mobility options for the 8% of American households without access to vehicles. [iii]For many families, covering an unexpected car repair expense can also be a hardship.[iv]
• Multimodal options and ensuring complete, network connections have been neglected. Policies that ensure that street networks (with sidewalks and bike lanes) and shared use multi-use trails are safe and accessible to pedestrians, bicyclists, and users of public transit gives residents more travel options and more control over their transportation expenses. [v] Land use policies that prevent people, jobs, goods, and services from being proximate to one another or near transit reduce the feasibility of low cost, environmentally efficient modes such as walking, cycling, and transit.

Evidence Base to Support Strategy

• People experiencing lower incomes spend a far greater percent of their income on transportation than households with middle or higher incomes. Reliable, safe, high-quality accessible multimodal transportation systems can help address these disparities and increase residents’ upward economic mobility.[vi]
• Nationally, 47% of the US population and 69% of the population living in rural census tracts spend more than 15% of their annual income on transportation.[vii]
• Roadway fatalities among Black people increased by 23% between 2019 and 2020, compared to an overall increase in fatalities of 7.2%.[viii] People who are American Indian and Alaska Native have roadway fatality rates more than double the national rate on a per population basis. [ix] While only 19% of the U.S. population lives in rural areas, 45% of all roadway fatalities and 34% of all public highway-rail grade crossing fatalities occur on rural roads, and the fatality rate on rural roads is 2 times higher than on urban roads. [x] 
• U.S. major airlines reported mishandling 11,389 wheelchairs and scooters in calendar year 2022 (1.54 % mishandling rate). [xi] As of FY 2020, nearly 25% of all transit stations in the U.S. were not accessible. [xii]

Actions

Read the Expanding Access Handout.

Have an idea to help advance transportation equity? Want to partner on one of these actions? Email us at equity@dot.gov to share your thoughts.