Case Study:

San Francisco Bay Area, California

Application

Disadvantaged Versus Not Disadvantaged Neighborhoods

Table 4 shows how accessibility differs under the RTP project alternative for disadvantaged versus not disadvantaged neighborhoods. Table 4 also indicates whether or not this difference is statistically significant.

Table 4.
Employment Accessibility for Disadvantaged versus Not Disadvantaged Neighborhoods, RTP Project Alternative

Average per Capita Total Employment Within X Minutes Peak Travel Time

*Disadvantaged - Not Disadvantaged.

Source: Metropolitan Transportation Commission, 1998.

The analysis shows that disadvantaged neighborhoods have significantly higher transit accessibility, at least for jobs within a 45-minute travel time. There are over 100,000 more jobs reachable within 45 minutes from the average disadvantaged neighborhood than from the average non-disadvantaged neighborhood. (Differences for 60- and 75-minute transit travel times, on the other hand, are not statistically significant.) The weighted accessibility index is about 40 percent higher for disadvantaged than for non-disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Automobile accessibility, in contrast, appears somewhat greater for not disadvantaged neighborhoods than for disadvantaged neighborhoods. Over 180,000 more jobs (13 percent more) are accessible to not disadvantaged neighborhoods than to disadvantaged neighborhoods within a 45-minute travel time. The differences for all travel time contours are statistically significant. The difference in the weighted index, however, is relatively small - only six to seven percent lower for disadvantaged neighborhoods than for not disadvantaged neighborhoods. Furthermore, this difference is not statistically significant.

Figure 4 and Figure 5 illustrate changes in accessibility for disadvantaged and not disadvantaged neighborhoods, as a result of the plan. (These differences are also shown in Tables 2 and 3.) Not disadvantaged neighborhoods benefit from greater improvements in transit accessibility although they are starting from a lower baseline than disadvantaged neighborhoods. In contrast, disadvantaged neighborhoods appear to benefit slightly more in terms of automobile accessibility (but again, are starting from a lower baseline). One interpretation of these findings is that the RTP decreases the relative differences in accessibility between disadvantaged and not disadvantaged neighborhoods, for both highway and transit modes.

Figure 4. Change in Transit Accessibility, RTP Project Versus No-Project (2020)

Figure 5.
Change in Highway Accessibility, RTP Project Versus No-Project (2020)

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