Meeting the Public’s Need for Transit Options: Characteristics of Socially Equitable Transit Networks

This paper outlines how key characteristics of the transit network affect social equity and provides insight on how equity concerns can be meaningfully incorporated into transit project analysis. The United States has several legislatively-required equity considerations built into project funding and planning, including the Federal Transit Authority (FTA) “New Starts and Small Starts” requirement to double-weight lower-income riders when scoring projects and to consider housing affordability near transit projects, as well as the Civil Rights Act Title IV requirement to consider the impacts of fare or service changes on minority populations. Canada does not have similar federally mandated legal requirements, but social equity is an important consideration for transit network planning regardless, as transit is essential for enabling and improving social equity in metropolitan regions.