Turning Data into Transit Currency
Turning Data into Transit Currency
How 3 Major US Markets Are Sparking Transit Revival
Be honest. Are safe, clean, comfortable, and reliable what roll off your tongue when you describe public transit in the US? For some an unwavering, yes. For others, hmmm. So how might transit agencies get past some of the very visible struggles that contributed to both pre- and pandemic era ridership declines? The $14 billion in federal Covid relief to resuscitate the system was certainly a lifeline, but not the sole fix for America’s public transit problem. Investing those dollars effectively to make transit more reliable, efficient, and useful would be the imperative shift needed toward a real solution.
But there was another issue. Public transit would need a culture, purpose, and perception makeover. How good would a renovated system be if elected officials, the business community, and the general public didn’t connect with transit’s real value to a local economy? How could agencies strategically look longer-term beyond the federal funding to make subsidizing transit a more popular idea among their surrounding jurisdictions? How could they revamp their service into something the public wanted to ride and invest in?
A World without Transit. A New Take on the Story.
The 2024 Benefits of Transit Report that we compiled for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) helped position them to begin answering these questions. Through the Capital Region’s ambitious and visionary goals to become an even better place to live, work, and visit, we visually told the story of how they would need to invest in their transit system to meet these goals.
Using tools like the regional travel model and Remix Transit, we created a counterfactual: what if transit didn’t exist in the Capital Region? The result was two scenarios—a world with and without transit—which revealed the story of just how much transit brings to the region. Through data and infographics, we illustrated the time and money savings, economic productivity, and quality of life enhancements that result from investing in transit, concluding the report with the sobering scenario of the traffic, safety, equity, and health implications that would result if it were shut down. Through this report, we helped WMATA tell their own story—informing conversations about transit investment through an engaging data-driven case for the myriad of ways that transit helps the region prosper.
New research and analysis commissioned by Metro demonstrates transit’s critical importance to the National Capital Region. When we invest in transit, our community thrives… Without transit, our region would lose more than $9 BILLION worth of economic activity due to heavy traffic congestion, lack of access to jobs, & slower movement of goods.”
- Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
Humanizing the Data. Personalizing the Experience.
In Los Angeles, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) was increasing efforts to broaden and improve transit services and ensure equitable outcomes for their residents. Many of these efforts involved massive infrastructure expansions funded by local Measure M and Measure R. Revealing the equity story and communicating the public’s return on these voter-approved investments would be essential.
Beginning with a first-of-its-kind study in 2019, we helped LA Metro conduct Understanding How Women Travel. This study explored the barriers keeping the largest population of Angelenos from riding transit, women. Women represented more than half the population of LA County and of Metro’s existing ridership, spending a higher percentage of their income on transit. Yet women’s needs didn’t enter the mobility conversation because they had never been measured. Citing safety concerns, off-peak hour travel challenges, and over 57% traveling with children, women were not critically accounted for in the way transit systems are planned. Through this groundbreaking study, we looked beyond the myopic 9-to-5 commute patterns by incorporating elements of social anthropology and ethnography to surface and humanize critical data revealing the unique mobility needs, travel patterns, and commute demands of this underrepresented influential giant.
“In order to reach the goal of having world-class transportation systems that meet the needs of all Angelenos, we first need to understand the ways in which women travel, how those patterns differ, and what types of solutions might have the biggest effect in reducing the travel burdens faced by women. This study is the first major undertaking by a US transportation agency to research, analyze, and publish the findings from such an effort.”
– Los Angeles Metro
Data and findings from Understanding How Women Travel then laid the foundation to help inform the 2022 Gender Action Plan (GAP). Pivoting from research to actionable items, LA Metro was now armed with a deeper understanding of the role gender played in the rider experience. GAP specifically recommends how to incorporate gender-diverse perspectives into the design and implementation of LA Metro’s policies, projects, programs, and services. Taking an intersectional approach to gender to better serve rider diversity, GAP also includes an evaluation tool that allows LA Metro to measure the success of its individual actions and ensure investments are improving the outcomes for women who ride. This action plan helps expand opportunities for all riders through service improvements and helps LA Metro in its vision to become a world class transportation system and the first choice in transportation for all Angelenos.
This is a key opportunity for Metro to be a leader in establishing evidence-based gender-responsive transit planning and using GAP to guide investments. To accomplish this, each GAP strategy has its own key performance indicators with both process-oriented and outcome-oriented metrics. This can be used by Metro to define and measure success for GAP.”
– Los Angeles Metro
The World Has Changed. As Has the Case for Transit.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, remote work has fundamentally reoriented people’s way of life, including how they travel. Downtown San Francisco has among the highest remote work rates in the country contributing to a persistent decline in the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system’s ridership and erosion of revenue. Prior to the pandemic, BART covered about 60 percent of its operating costs through passenger fares relying minimally on financial assistance from regional, state, and federal governments. As such, the pandemic revealed their vulnerability to sudden declines in ridership. To shore up the current operating deficit and address this vulnerability, BART would need a dedicated new funding source or face running out of money in 2025-26.
Partnering with BART, we helped them produce the 2024 Role in the Region Study, which documents their value to the region’s economy, mobility, cultural diversity, and equity, making the case for sustained funding. In this graphic-rich and comprehensive resource, we use illustrative data, personal narratives, factsheets, and a comprehensive final report to provide insights into emerging trends. We illustrate how BART helps advance a diverse and valuable workforce in the region. The study tells BART’s story of how they have rebalanced service to better adapt to changing rider needs, and how they have invested in safety, security, cleanliness, and other essential areas to upgrade the rider experience. An important part of the story is painting the dire consequences to accessibility, congestion, and emissions in a world without BART.
What unique transit story does your jurisdiction have to share? Are you set up for sustainable future funding and do you have the resounding support of your surrounding jurisdictions and riders? Do you need a data-driven socio-economic analysis to unveil your story? We would love to talk. Large or small, we’ve helped numerous markets like Washington DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, and Seattle tell their stories through Fehr & Peers’ Creative Studio. Technically specialized in both transportation and communications, they help us paint a data-informed and visually compelling picture of the benefits of transit for your region and offer deliverables ready for funding efforts and ongoing public support.
Cullen McCormick
Creative Studio Leader
Jeremiah LaRose
Transit Discipline Leader
Andy Kosinski
Senior Associate
P.E.
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