Benefits of
Transit
According to the Center for Transportation Excellence,
public transportation plays an integral role in
improving our
nation's prosperity, equity and mobility. An overview of the
benefits provides a powerful
rationale for investing in its
future. Learn about how transit helps build strong communities,
good health and a robust economy.
Economic |
Environmental |
Health |
Community |
Social Justice |
Other
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Social
Justice Benefits
Public transportation
enhances equity in American society by creating jobs,
getting people to work and providing quality
transportation access for
low-income individuals and
minority communities:
- In addition to the 350,000
people directly employed by public transportation
systems, thousands of others
are employed in related
support services (i.e., engineering, manufacturing,
construction, retail, etc.). For every
$10 million
invested in capital projects for public
transportation, more than 300 jobs are created and a
$30 million gain in sales for business is realized.
- Public transportation is
key to moving former welfare recipients into the
workforce as permanent wage earners.
An estimated 94%
of welfare recipients attempting to move into the
workforce do not own cars and rely on public
transportation.
- The current federal
"Access To Jobs" initiative provides grants to transit
service providers to help low-income
residents get to
work by providing transportation choices.
- Transportation policies
that encourage personal automobile travel have an
inequitable effect on the finances
of minority and
low-income individuals with those in the lowest fifth
of income earners spending 36% of their
household
budget on transportation compared with those in the
highest fifth income spending 14%.
- The vast majority of
Americans rely on cars to meet their transportation
needs, but minorities are less likely
to own a car.
Only 7% of white households own no cars whereas 24% of
African American households,
17% of Latino Households,
and 13% of Asian households own no cars. In urban
areas, African Americans and Latinos
comprise 54% of
public transportation users.
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