Under former Mayor Bill Peduto, the study said, the city concentrated on services such as ride-sharing, Zip cars and scooters, which often are too expensive for low-income users. Even the Healthy Ride shared bicycle program has many of its stations outside of low-income areas, the study said.
That's because the Pittsburgh Mobility Collective established under Mr. Peduto hasn't followed its own goal of encouraging "universal basic mobility," the study said.
"Given that most of the Move PGH mobility options have clear barriers to access to those of different access needs, income levels, and location, it seems odd to make this claim to 'universal basic mobility,'" the study said. "As a result, [mobility] providers are concentrated in areas with low and moderate mobility needs, where many residents already have transit options, including the financial means to have a car."
The 25-page study, "Mobility For Who? Rebuilding Bridges to Transportation Justice," was performed by Tech4Society, a student group at Carnegie Mellon University that supports civic organizations, and PPT. They hosted an hour-long panel discussion after its release.
Although public transit in the Pittsburgh area is provided through Port Authority, the city's decisions on what modes of mobility to support can shape what is available. Under Mr. Peduto, the city welcomed a half dozen firms that are investing billions to develop autonomous vehicle technology and is testing a shared scooter program, but the study says it isn't investing in the same manner in basics like the care of sidewalks.
The study contends that in some cases, the people who need transit the most have been forced to the suburbs by gentrification that increased their cost of living in the city. But when they moved, they then faced additional problems, such as a longer, more expensive commute to work.
"To be clear, not every mode of transportation must be accessible to everyone," the study said. "What is a problem, however, is when the city commits human and monetary resources to transit projects that claim to provide 'universal basic mobility' while excluding a large swath of the population without devoting commensurate resources to programs that benefit the excluded segment."
At the panel discussion, critics said the scooter program has limited use for low-income residents who have the greatest need for mobility services, calling it "wildly expensive" at an estimated $6.49 for a 1.5-mile trip. Paul O'Hanlon, co-chair of the City-County Task Force on Disabilities, said scooters, with no place to store packages or bring children, are little help to get people with disabilities from transit to their final destination.
"Nothing is being done for those people with the greatest need for help in that last mile [after leaving public transit]," he said.
Planning consultant Micah Epstein said many of those last-mile options the city has pushed are bunched in the Downtown area, which limits their ability to help.
Port Authority CEO Katharine Eagan Kelleman said she hadn't seen the report and couldn't comment on whether city decisions have impeded transit programs.
The study reiterated PPT's call for new Mayor Ed Gainey to demonstrate his support for a more equitable transit system in his first 100 days in office by making changes to reduce parking requirements for new developments and support zoning changes to allow more dense development around pubic transit. Those changes would encourage transit use and make it more available to those who need it most.
"For too long, our city government has been disproportionately focused on single-occupancy vehicles and trendy transportation technology like autonomous vehicles and e-scooters that do not and cannot meet the needs of all Pittsburghers for safe, affordable and effective transit," the study said.
"Clear and transparent communication and collaboration between our community, the mayor's office, and governmental agencies is a necessary foundation for equitable systems and decision making."
(c)2022 the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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