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.

54 Key Findings Numerous transit agencies, of all sizes, have undertaken bus network redesigns across the United States and Canada over the past decade. However, incorporating equity considerations in the planning process is an emerging topic that is rapidly evolving. As awareness of issues surrounding equity continue to grow due to the events of 2020 and more recently with a new federal focus on equity (including EO 13985 issued by President Biden in January 2021), equity in transportation planning has come to the fore. Definitions of Equity. Just over one-third of survey respondents indicated that their agencies had an established definition of equity. Definitions of groups included in equity analyses varied across transit agencies, with many adding new groups such as female householders/ single mothers, school age students, adults ages 55–64, cost-burdened renters, and the foreign-born population to those already traditionally included such as racial minorities, low-income populations, persons with limited English proficiency, senior citizens, and persons with disabilities. Limitations of Title VI. There are transit agencies that view compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act as achieving equity in the planning process. Many of these transit agen- cies also wait until a service plan is finalized before they conduct a Title VI service equity analysis, which may or may not leave enough time to adequately address the findings of the analysis. However, a growing number of transit agencies increasingly recognize that the role of Title VI is limited to preventing intentional or unintentional discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin, and that advancing transportation equity cannot be achieved by implementing Title VI requirements alone. Travel Demand and Evolving Analytical Methods. Transit agencies’ efforts to advance their understanding of the equity impacts of bus network redesigns often involve analyses of accessibility across the network (e.g., the percentage of jobs in the service area that low- income persons can reach within a specified time period) and the use of indices that weight the presence of the equity populations to guide service planning. Analysis of transit agency O-D data is also common; however, this data can only provide information on how a bus system is currently used. MBTA has made use of LBS data to inform the planning of the redesign on all trips (including ones not currently taken by transit). Transition from Peak-Oriented Service to All-Day, Frequent Service. Many transit agencies cited the desire to transition from peak-oriented (often hub-and-spoke) service models to ones that provided more frequent transit, more direct connections, and more consistent service throughout the day as motivating factors for conducting a bus network redesign. More off-peak, frequent, and direct transit service is frequently cited as the type of bus service desired by equity populations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the case example agencies reported that off-peak service demand was far less impacted by pandemic-related C H A P T E R   5 Conclusions

Conclusions 55   ridership than peak period service. This allowed several of the case example agencies to advance their bus network redesign plans earlier than planned, and for other transit agencies, it validated the focus on the off-peak as one that serves equity populations, including those who work essential jobs and those not able to telework. Inclusive Public Engagement. The use of inclusive public engagement, particularly engage- ment with CBOs and holding “pop-up” outreach events at bus transfer centers, community centers, and other community locations, is prevalent among transit agencies conducting bus network redesigns. Engaging with CBOs is a way to facilitate input, but transit agencies are also working with CBOs to ensure that the concerns of equity populations are repre- sented in bus network redesign discussions with transit agency and political leadership. Inclusion of On-Demand Transit Is Growing. The survey for this synthesis found that 45% of agencies incorporated microtransit or another type of on-demand transit partnership into their redesign. In TCRP Research Report 221: Redesigning Transit Networks for the New Mobility Future, the vast majority of participating transit agencies were evaluating new mobility options such as on-demand transit concurrently, but separately, from their bus network redesigns. Future Research With a renewed focus on equity by transit agencies, and at the federal level, academics and practitioners are actively developing a variety of new methodologies for use in equity analyses of bus network redesigns and service plans. Continued research in future years should document these innovations in equity analyses for informing the service planning process. An analysis of how the results and findings of new and existing methods for equity analyses compare against one another—i.e., a service change that is evaluated with one equity analysis method may appear to benefit equity populations, while the use of a different equity analysis method may produce the opposite result—would be useful to deepen our understanding of the use of equity analyses in service planning. It is also important that we analyze the equity outcomes of bus network redesigns. While some transit agencies incorporate equity in performance metrics that are measured post- implementation, the impact of many bus network redesigns on equity populations as a whole is still only understood on a limited basis. Are bus network redesigns resulting in short transit trips, more direct trips, serving new destinations? How are on-time performance benefits resulting from bus network redesigns distributed between equity populations and nonequity populations? Are they truly increasing access to jobs and essential services? Although none of the surveyed agencies indicated that their redesigns were being conducted as a direct response to COVID-19, many agencies across the country adjusted their service in response to the crisis. Future research may also investigate the new travel patterns of the post- COVID-19 recovery period and seek to understand the connection between these new patterns and the equity impacts of either existing services or adjusted service.