Assessing Equity and Identifying Impacts Associated with Bus Network Redesigns (2022)

Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

3   Introduction Motivation, Project Objectives, and Report Organization Numerous transit agencies across the country have undertaken bus network redesigns with a desire to increase ridership, improve on-time performance, and achieve operational effi- ciencies. Meeting these objectives often involves shifting bus resources from peripheral areas to areas with land uses and demographics conducive to high ridership and increasing spac- ing between bus stops. Recent Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) publications, including TCRP Research Report 221: Redesigning Transit Networks for the New Mobility Future and TCRP Synthesis 140: Comprehensive Bus Network Redesigns, have researched the current use of full-system bus network redesigns among transit agencies. Although the significance of equity was noted in both reports, they provided limited detail regarding equity in the bus network redesign planning process. This synthesis explores how equity is being incorporated and addressed in today’s bus network redesigns. It covers how transit agencies today are defining equity, analyzing the equity impacts of bus network redesigns during planning, and pursuing inclusive public engage- ment in the planning process. The research process for this synthesis featured three elements: a literature review, a survey of agency practice, and case example reports. Overview of Contents Literature Review The literature review provides a brief overview of transportation equity and related con- cepts, how equity is measured in transit planning today, and the role of equity in planning and engagement for bus network redesigns. The literature review is organized into sections that include • Introduction; • Measuring Equity Impacts in Transit Planning; and • Equity in Bus Network Designs. The literature identified included a review of past TCRP publications, input from the project’s panel, a scan of relevant transit agency documentation, and identification of applicable federal law and regulatory guidance. The literature review is presented in Chapter 2. Survey of Agency Practice Thirty-eight transit agencies completed a survey of agency practice that aimed to under- stand agency approaches for integrating equity into the bus network redesign process, C H A P T E R   1

4 Assessing Equity and Identifying Impacts Associated with Bus Network Redesigns inclusion in the goal setting process, equity-specific metrics and evaluations used in service planning and outcome evaluation, when and how service equity analyses required by the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Title VI Circular “Americans with Disabilities Act: Guidance” (FTA C 4702.1B) were conducted (if applicable), and public engagement. As shown in Appendix B, survey questions were divided into the following sections in the survey: • Title VI Service Equity Analysis, which gauged how transit agencies fulfilled FTA require- ments, when applicable. • Equity Analyses Other than Title VI Service Equity Analyses, which aimed to understand what actions agencies undertook beyond FTA requirements to address equity in their bus network redesigns. • Community Engagement, which gathered insight regarding how agencies conducted effec- tive outreach with diverse stakeholder groups. The survey was designed using skip logic to sort agencies by their stage in the redesign process, where answers of “my agency contemplated a bus system redesign in the past five years but decided against it,” and “none of the above” led respondents to the end of the survey. Among the 38 survey respondents, five had not completed a bus network redesign. As a result, 33 survey responses were considered. One additional transit agency did not respond to the survey but did provide a written response via email. The survey results are synthesized and presented in Chapter 3. Case Examples Results from the survey of agency practice determined which transit agencies were selected for case examples. Researchers conducted one-hour virtual interviews with representatives from each of the six selected transit agencies (Table 1). Case example agencies were selected on the basis of their ability to provide a “lessons learned” or “best practices” report in regard to incorporating equity in bus network redesigns, as well as for diversity in terms of geographic location in the United States, service area characteristics, and transit agency size. A custom- ized list of interview questions was developed for each interview based on the transit agency’s survey responses. To ensure transit agency participants would be prepared for the interview, questions were sent to interviewees in advance of the interview date. The case examples are presented in Chapter 4. Transit Agency Agency Size Location Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) Large Los Angeles, CA Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) Large Boston, MA Metro Transit Medium Madison, WI Regional Transit Service (RTS) Small Rochester, NY WeGo Medium Nashville, TN Lane Transit District (LTD) Medium Eugene, OR Table 1. Transit agencies selected for case examples.