Transportation Equity

Transportation equity focuses on how the benefits and burdens of transportation affects different communities within society and aims to provide a framework in which to identify, quantify, and address these inequities.

When thinking about transportation equity across the state of California, we should be asking:

• Who pays for our transportation system?
• Who benefits the most and the least from our transportation system?
• Who bears the most and the least impact from our transportation system?
• And who decides the policies, plans, and programs that shape our tranpsortation system?

When looking to ensure transportation equity, we should see:

• Transportation systems that support multimodal options (e.g., pedestrian, bicyclist, bus, train, and car) that are affordable, sustainable, reliable, efficient, safe, and easy to use.
• Quality transportation services that are accessible to all populations for reaching destinations independently if needed.
• Transportation decision-making processes that incorporate inclusive public engagement to reduce the long-standing socioeconomic disparities experienced by underserved and underrepresented communities.

From the Minnesota Department of Transportation's Advancing Transportation Equity project.

Equity in transportation is the goal of providing the same access to safe, affordable, and reliable transportation to everyone.

The Californian Department of Transportation (Caltrans) acknowledge that within the state of California, communities of color and communities of lower economic standing experience fewer benefits and are exposed to a greater share of the negative impacts of the state’s transportation system. 

Work on transportation equity within the state focuses on:

• Traffic Volumes: Where are the greatest traffic volumes across the state? Who or what communinities are most impacted by these traffic volumes?
  
• Traffic Collisions: Where is the greatest risk of a traffic collision across the state when travelling as a pedestrian or bicyclist? Who or what communities are most impacted by a higher risk of a collision?
  
• Traffic Pollution: What types of pollution do we see associated with traffic pollution? Where are these pollution types the highest? Who or what communities are most imapcts by the high levels of pollution?
  
• Electric Vehicles and Infrastructure: Where is the ownership of Electric Vehicles highest? Where is it the lowest? Where is there sufficient infrastructure to encourage ownership and travel by electric vehicles? Where is the infrastructure lacking? What communities are benefiting from the transition to electric vehicles? What communities are missing out?
  
• Public Transportation: Where is the provision of accessible and safe public transportation highest and lowest across the state? who or what communities have highest and lowest access to public transportation? Does public transportation fulfil the needs of all communities?
  
• Active Transportation: What infrastructure exists to encourage safe and accessible active transportation modes, such as cycling and walking? Where is this infrastructure provision the highest and most suitable? Where is this infrastructure provision the lowest and unsuitable? What communities are benefiting from or missing out on active transportation?

The distribution of benefits and burdens of transportation within California varies across the state and its communities and often reflect a history of transportation decision-making and policies which have divided communities from one another and from the services that they need.

Caltrans Transportation Equity Index Tool

In 2024, Caltrans released the Transportation Equity Index (EQI), which is a spatial screening tool designed to identify transportation-based priority populations at the Census block level. The tool was developed in response to their commitment to address the burdens caused or exacerbated by the transportation system.

The EQI screens include:

• Transportation-Based Priority Populations: Communities that are most burdened by the transportation system and receive the fewest benefits.
• Traffic Exposure: Communities that are the most burdened through high exposure to traffic and crashes.
• Access to Destinations: Communities that have the greatest gaps in multimodal access to destinations.

The tool highlights those communities (Census blocks) most impacted by these three main issues, rather than providing data for all Census blocks across the state. The tool will be used by the agency to inform how to best address and mitigate inequities exacerbated by the transportation system. The tool and its data are available for use and download by the general public.

UCLA Transportation Disparities Mapping Tool

The Transportation Disparity Mapping Tool is a project at UCLA's Center For Neigborhood Knowledge developed to better understand disparities in transportation and the built environment in California at the neighborhood (Census tract) level. This tool focuses on five major categories:

• Transportation: Car ownership and use, as well as commuting methods, including car, carpooling, public transit and active transportation.
• Accessibility: Distance to transit, availability of cycling infrastructure and public parks.
• Social, Economic, and Demographic: Community characteristics, including population density, race and ethnicity, income, and pveorty.
• Housing: Housing type, density, and costs.
• Health: Traffic collisions and walkability of the community, alongside health outcomes and service and insurance.

The tool provides data for all Census tracts in the state. This tool is funded by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). The tool uses data primarily from 2010-2015.

Caltrans Equity Statement

In December 2020, Caltrans published an Equity Statement that currently guides their work to eliminate barriers to provide more equitable transportation for all Californians, including the creation of the EQI Tool.