A MBER O NTIVEROS (O NTIVEROS & A SSOCIATES ) E THAN C ONNER -R OSS (E CONSULT S OLUTIONS ) July 13, 2015 Title VI Implications of State of Good Repair

OVERVIEW 2

WHAT IS TRANSPORTATION EQUITY? 3 3 Ensure opportunities for meaningful public involvement in the transportation planning process; Be held to standards of public accountability and financial transparency; Equally prioritize efforts to revitalize poor and minority communities in addition to expanding infrastructure; Ensure benefits and burdens from transportation projects (e.g., jobs, pollution, etc.) are equally distributed across all income levels; Provide high quality services to low-income & minority communities.

TITLE VI 4 4 Title VI – Civil Rights Act of 1964 – “No person shall, on the grounds of race, color or national origin, be excluded from participation, denied benefits of, or otherwise subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance” Prohibits intentional discrimination and disparate impact. Disproportionate affect on minority populations – Comparative analysis between the system and the affected group

TITLE VI 5 5 Easy to discuss the negative ramifications of Title VI. It’s much harder to discuss policies that have a positive impact on disenfranchised populations. Title VI can be a means to create policies. Policies that result in providing high quality services to low-income & minority communities.

NEW STARTS OR SGR 6 6 Strategy to build political support is to focus on New Starts projects Build a coalition amongst the business community Create jobs and opportunities for DBE’s Is that the only way? Focus on State of Good Repair Investments

STATE OF GOOD REPAIR 7 7 Strategy to build political support Not as sexy as NS, but it’s more money and requires less political capital Build a coalition amongst the business community Create jobs and opportunities for DBE’s

FTA: SERVICE EQUITY ANALYSIS 8 8 Required for capital improvements representing a major service change – For transit providers in an urbanized area (UZA) with a population greater than 200,000 and with 50 or more fixed route vehicles Comparison analysis of impacts likely to be experienced by Title VI and EJ population against those likely to be experienced by non-Title VI and EJ populations.

SGR EQUITY ANALYSIS 9 9 Service Equity: Usually applied to new projects Majority of spending for many agencies is on State of Good Repair – New York Metropolitan Transit Authority capital plan: 73% of spending to “core” programs (“renewing the system to promote safe and reliable service”) – Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority FY capital plan: 64% of spending to “base capital investments” (“primarily state of good repair and safety”) – Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s FY capital investment program: 65% of spending to “state of good repair” investments. Service Equity framework can be applied to SGR projects

POLICY IMPLICATIONS 10 Conducting Service Equity Analysis to demonstrate value for SGR projects – Maintaining service for existing ridership is critical for transportation equity – Create sustainable jobs and opportunities for DBEs Using Service Equity Analysis to compare the equity implications of various existing routes – Relative usage of existing services by Title VI and EJ protected populations

SERVICE EQUITY METHODOLOGY 11 “Population compares the population in Census blocks or block groups served by the affected route(s) with the population of the service area” “Ridership” compares the ridership of the affected route(s) with the ridership of the system”

SERVICE EQUITY METHODOLOGY 12 Strengths: Comparison of like populations Comparison of like data sources Weaknesses: Assumptions about ridership distribution Data collection and statistical representativeness Difficult to apply to system-wide analysis

SERVICE EQUITY METHODOLOGY 13 Ridership-Adjusted Population Analysis When both ridership and population data are available: 1)Map riders back to home Census tract (or TAZ) 2)Use known demographics of the Census tracts 3)Calculate ridership-weighted demographic profile of service area or route

RIDERSHIP-ADJUSTED POPULATION 14 RIDERSHIP-ADJUSTED POPULATION – PHILA REGION Census tracts are weighted according to their contribution to ridership, rather than their total population, to create a composite demographic profile ridership within the service area.

SERVICE AREA ANALYSIS 15 Method Minority Persons Low-Income Households Population Only37%22% Ridership-Adjusted50%32% % Difference36%48% MINORITY PERSONS RIDERSHIP-ADJUSTED POPULATION SERVICE AREA ANALYSIS METHODOLOGY COMPARISON Existing routes are serving minority and low- income communities

ROUTE LEVEL ANALYSIS 16 RIDERSHIP-ADJUSTED DISTRIBUTION ADJACENT CENSUS TRACTS

ROUTE LEVEL ANALYSIS 17 MINORITY PERSONS RIDERSHIP-ADJUSTED POPULATION Minority Persons Low-Income Households Service Area50%32% Market-Frankford Line53%36% % Difference7%11% SERVICE AREA VS. ROUTE RIDERSHIP-ADJUSTED MFL serves minority and low- income communities more than the avg. route

Q & A 18