People in the Washington D.C. region who can afford to live in pricier neighborhoods with the best transit access save a lot of money because of the many economic benefits of options like trains, buses, bikeshare, and walkability.
Problem is … the people who most need the inexpensiveness of transit don’t live close enough to use it.
These are the major findings from a recent Brookings Institution report called Connecting to Opportunity. Many of the key findings were summed up nicely by The Washington Examiner‘s excellent transportation reporter Kytja Weir.
- Eighty-eight percent of residents in the Washington area live in neighborhoods with access to transit of some kind. It’s great for a Washington-area resident who lives in Arlington, Alexandria, the District of Columbia or within the Beltway.
- Locally, 15 percent of workers use public transportation to get to their jobs, compared with 5 percent nationally.
- Living close to transit can mean workers can save on commuting costs by not owning a car or buying gas, but housing costs can make it difficult for low-income workers to take advantage of those savings.
- A low-skill worker living alone could not afford the median rent in any area within the region, assuming housing costs should not account for more than 30 percent of annual earnings.
- The authors say local leaders need to do better at coordinating land-use, housing and transit planning to create denser concentrations of transit-accessible jobs and housing at all affordability levels. The report also urges more development around underused Metro stations such as in Prince George’s and in the eastern portion of the District.
- Methodology: The report analyzed how well transit connects the region’s 4.9 million people with the 2.9 million local jobs. A neighborhood was considered to have transit access if a resident lives within three-quarters of a mile of at least one bus stop, Metrorail station or commuter train stop and can use it to get to a job within 90 minutes by one-way trip.
Photo by YardSale