Transportation Spending by Low-Income California Households ...

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grants for developments that meet certain housing density levels. Additional bonuses are provided for affordable housing units. 5 Creation of Accessible Jobs The reverse side of the housing approach is to encourage the development of jobs in areas where low-income workers live or can easily access. This path offers the same transportation affordability benefits as the housing approach: potential reductions in commute costs and potential increases in income as a result of better job opportunities. The creation of urban enterprise zones in low-income areas—using such incentives as tax credits, financing assistance, and technical support to induce business activity—is one example of a job-oriented approach. The evidence on the efficacy of California’s enterprise zones is mixed. Dowall, Beyeler, and Wong (1994) found that the performance of enterprise zones in California had been disappointing, but this may have been in part because of inadequate funding for the enterprise zone programs. In contrast, results from O’Keefe (2004) suggest that enterprise zone designation raises employment growth about 3 percent annually but that the effect recedes after the first six years. Both papers note that employment effects vary dramatically across enterprise zones. Dowall et al. suggest that job training, job matching, and technical and financial assistance may be even more important than tax credit incentives for promoting business activity. Boushey et al. observe that in addition to the option of creating jobs in low-income neighborhoods, “Another policy is reforming urban zoning laws to allow for job creation near transit hubs.” A separate possibility that is rarely discussed in transportation circles is to increase the number of opportunities to work from home, and in particular, to increase opportunities for telecommuting. Although a personal computer may seem expensive for a low-income family, the price of a basic computing system is usually substantially less than the purchase price of a vehicle, and maintenance costs are also less. The creation of affordable housing and accessible jobs are both goals that could take a very long time to achieve, whereas transportation _____________ 5 Kinsey (2003). 104
strategies can generally be implemented much more quickly. A wide variety of transportation policies are available to address the gap between home and work. Linking Home to Work via Public Transit The most common approach to addressing transportation affordability problems has been to provide discounted public transit. Discounted (or subsidized) tickets or passes are often provided in bulk to organizations that serve targeted populations. Similarly, public transit agencies have discounts for seniors, disabled persons, and sometimes for students as well. We first discuss group discounts and then individual discounts. Transit Discounts for Specific Groups Social services agencies serving TANF clients distribute transit vouchers to help recipients with their transportation needs. Vouchers are frequently distributed at homeless centers as well. 6 Another example of group discounts would be the ECO PASS program offered by the Valley Transportation Authority. This program sells bus passes at discounted bulk prices to employers and property managers, including affordable housing developers. Scholl (2002) states that currently about seven affordable housing complexes participate in this program. The ECO PASS program could be expanded to other affordable housing developments and to firms that employ a large number of low-income workers, and the program could be replicated by other transit agencies in the Bay Area. The idea of selling discounted public transit services in bulk might also be extended to agencies that serve immigrant populations, who are much more likely than U.S. natives to use public transit. Once it is fully implemented throughout the Bay Area, the TransLink® system—wherein a TransLink® “smart card” with a microchip can store transit fares from multiple transit agencies—may _____________ 6 Scholl (2002). 105
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Transportation Spending by Low-Inco
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Foreword Mismatches between jobs an
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Summary Transportation is an import
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Table S.1 Median Annual Transportat
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about 5 to 10 percent of the median
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providing discounted transit fares
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5. COMMUTE BEHAVIOR IN THE BAY AREA
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Figures S.1. Vehicle Ownership and
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4.3. Costs of Illustrative Within-C
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1. Introduction Costs associated wi
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of “welfare-to-work” transporta
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lays out policy options for address
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2. Data and Methods In this report,
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advantage to this approach is that
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3. Transportation Expenditures in M
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Table 3.2 Vehicle Use, Vehicle Owne
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Components of Vehicle-Related Expen
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inspection, and auto club membershi
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income households and the higher-in
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eport looks primarily at cost and n
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The results from Table 3.5 indicate
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variation in transportation costs w
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overall household expenditures for
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31 Table 3.9 Transportation Expendi
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Table 3.10 Comparison of California
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Table 3.11 Comparison of the San Fr
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Table 3.10 have lower expenditure f
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4. Costs of Illustrative Bay Area C
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0-300 301-600 601-1100 1101-6813 Ba
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Table 4.2 Place of Work Comparison
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Concord CONTRA COSTA SAN FRANCISCO
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Administration (FHWA) mileage rate
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49 Table 4.3 Costs of Illustrative
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participants who took transit or ca
Page 75 and 76: Table 4.4 Costs of Illustrative Wit
Page 77 and 78: 55 Table 4.5 Costs of Illustrative
Page 79 and 80: 57 Table 4.6 Costs of Illustrative
Page 81 and 82: commutes is $4,240, whereas the hig
Page 83 and 84: The results from this chapter seem
Page 85 and 86: 5. Commute Behavior in the Bay Area
Page 87 and 88: We also looked at mode choice using
Page 89 and 90: longer for higher-income workers if
Page 91 and 92: Table 5.3 (continued) Low- Income H
Page 93 and 94: Table 5.5 depicts the share of the
Page 95 and 96: 73 Table 5.6 Mode Choice and Vehicl
Page 97 and 98: 75 Table 5.8 Mode Choice and Vehicl
Page 99 and 100: households report having access to
Page 101 and 102: Table 5.9 (continued) % Using Each
Page 103 and 104: • Marin to San Francisco: As with
Page 105 and 106: Table 5.10 Median Commute Durations
Page 107 and 108: 85 Table 5.11 Differences in Mode C
Page 109 and 110: Table 5.13 Mode Choice, Work Schedu
Page 111: trips, make more household-supporti
Page 114 and 115: only expenditures. Paying a given n
Page 116 and 117: improving service quality rather th
Page 119: Part II Policy Strategies and Areas
Page 122 and 123: potential social costs such as poll
Page 124 and 125: • Increasing income directly, to
Page 128 and 129: make it easier for various entities
Page 130 and 131: pass.” 10 Perhaps discounts could
Page 132 and 133: free transit is most likely not app
Page 134 and 135: have fares based on the time of day
Page 136 and 137: hours for late night and graveyard
Page 138 and 139: credit ratings, assisting with insu
Page 140 and 141: would have paid with traditional au
Page 142 and 143: citizens. Rather, the question shou
Page 144 and 145: Facilitating Bicycling or Walking A
Page 146 and 147: transportation hubs may be another
Page 148 and 149: allowing flexibility at the local l
Page 150 and 151: services, health care, drug treatme
Page 152 and 153: costs. Efforts to incorporate infor
Page 154 and 155: are differences) and by looking at
Page 156 and 157: Dataset Poor Low-Income Higher-Inco
Page 158 and 159: income, problems common to most hou
Page 160 and 161: or the Bay Area specifically. We us
Page 163 and 164: Appendix B Information on Specific
Page 165 and 166: We also excluded expenditures on bi
Page 167 and 168: Atlanta: Atlanta, GA MSA Miami: Mia
Page 169 and 170: 147 Table B.1 (continued) CES Metro
Page 171 and 172: Appendix C Sensitivity Analysis for
Page 173 and 174: 151 Table C.1 (continued) Poor Low-
Page 175 and 176: transportation expenditures constit
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Appendix D Methods Used for the Exa
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Bibliography American Automobile As
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Implications of Welfare Reform for
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Lucas, M., and C. Nicholson, “Sub
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Progressive Casualty Insurance Comp
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About the Author LORIEN RICE Lorien
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