The regional transportation system’s primary purpose is to connect residents and businesses to opportunity. Yet some historical transportation investments and development patterns have prevented communities from sharing in new prosperity. Residents in economically disconnected areas( Economically disconnected areas have a concentration of low income residents and either minority re...
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(EDAs) have lower rates of vehicle ownership and frequently rely on public transit to connect them to resources for education and employment.{{Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, “Economically Disconnected Area clusters in the CMAP region,” January 2018, Economically disconnected area clusters in the CMAP region.}} However, commutes from these areas to economic opportunities often require covering long distances or making multiple transfers.{{Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, “Travel patterns in Economically Disconnected Area clusters,” January 2018, Travel patterns in economically disconnected area clusters.}} For example, despite living in areas with relatively high transit availability, residents on the South and West sides of Chicago commute up to 58 hours more each year than the region’s average resident.{{Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning analysis of American Community Survey data.}} Such disparities illustrate the relative challenge of accessing job and training resources in the region, as well as additional drags on the productivity of the region’s human capital.{{Brookings Institution, “The growing distance between people and jobs in metropolitan America,” 2015, https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-growing-distance-between-people-and-jobs-in-metropolitan-america/. }}

For workers to advance economically, these communities need local economic growth and improved access to high quality transportation options that reliably connect them to opportunities for upward economic mobility. Transportation and land use planning should prioritize strategies that connect all residents and particularly those in EDAs to high quality education and employment. Such strategies are especially important given WIOA’s emphasis on serving populations with barriers to accessing or sustaining employment. Pursuing the region’s inclusive growth goals will require developing walkable communities and leveraging the transportation system to connect residents to economic opportunities. 

Action 1

Encourage future economic growth and development to occur in already-developed areas with access to transit.

Implementers

Local governments, in partnership with economic development organizations, business associations, and chambers of commerce

Action 2

Work together to develop pilot projects that explore new methods of providing targeted, flexible, or on-demand services that connect EDAs to suburban job centers.

Implementers

Transit agencies, local communities, and the private sector

Action 3

Explore and pilot new fare strategies, such as fare capping or low-income fares, which reduce fare burden on low-income populations and social service providers.

Implementers

Transit agencies

Action 4

Continue to make progress toward universal accessibility of stations.

Implementers

Transit agencies

Action 5

Take a leadership role in identifying gaps in the transportation system for economically disconnected communities, articulating the individual, local, and regional growth benefits of making such transportation connections.

Implementers

CMAP