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Inadequate public transportation affects household finances, access to jobs, and general mobility of Latino residents

Massachusetts often prides itself on its extensive public transportation system, but the system fails to benefit many residents who need it most.

A study released this week by Neighbor to Neighbor Massachusetts and the Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy shows that the state’s transit systems often fail to provide convenient, viable transportation options for lower-income Latino residents, based on surveys and focus groups held in Lynn, East Boston, Worcester, and Springfield. Read the report online.

Outside of the MBTA service area, transit hours and frequency are often limited—alarmingly, “some focus group participants described their strategy of arriving at the bus stop one full hour in advance of the bus’s scheduled arrival time in order to combat ‘no-shows.’” Even when buses run on time, service often ends early in the evening and is even more infrequent or even nonexistent on weekends.

Walking, unfortunately, is rarely a convenient solution because basic goods and services such as grocery stores or doctors’ offices are often located far from respondents’ homes: in Springfield, only 18 percent reported that such daily conveniences are located in their immediate neighborhoods. It’s telling that “the most common way for East Boston respondents (31%) to access the grocery store is by private taxicab.”

Even the relatively more available MBTA service in East Boston fails to connect workers to service and other jobs which often are not located downtown – in cities with less connectivity such as Springfield, access to jobs is a huge barrier to employment.

In the face of such lacking public transit, most residents are forced to make major financial sacrifices to own and maintain cars. In each city, between 66 and 89 percent of respondents reported that they would drive less if public transportation was better – across the survey area, 38 percent reported having at some time forgone a basic necessity in order to afford transportation. The low-income Latinos on which the study focused truly have “no good choices” — public transit wastes time and severely limits mobility, but the costs of car ownership present a burden.

Despite the cost, however, “57% identified automobiles as their ‘primary’ mode of transportation – a finding explained by the high but often invisible practice of regular reliance on someone else’s car.”

So how do we break down these barriers to mobility? The study, first and foremost, recommends increasing funding for Regional Transit Authorities (RTAs); at the same time, these agencies (including the T) must rethink their routes to ensure that residents without cars can efficiently access their daily needs. Bicycling could also close many gaps, along with progressive land-use planning that creates walkable neighborhoods.

— Lucas Conwell