Accessibility versus Mobility

By Anonymous

Mobility is seen as the ability to connect people to services and goods, while accessibility is seen as how much you are able to access in a specific time frame.  

Mobility has historically been viewed as the driving force for successful transportation projects. Our current built environment, that of a car-dominated, and sprawled communities, is due to the mobility factor. In part it has succeed in doing its intended job. More people are able to access opportunities that wouldn’t have done so either wise leading them to improve their socio-economic status. Yet the burdens are disproportionately placed on vulnerable communities. Mobility can place a heavy burden on individuals to be vehicles-owners or rely heavily on public transit. At times, public transit can be unreliable, or not accessible within a short walking distance. Accessibility has recently been called out as a better indicator of equity in regard to transportation projects.

 

Rockwood is a census-designated neighborhood in Gresham, at the border with East Portland. Rockwood’s demographics lean towards majority B.I.P.o.C. and low-income individuals who reside in this community. The area is serviced well by TriMet, as Bus 20 has a frequent route along Stark St. and the MAX Blue Line runs on Burnside. Yet while individuals have the ability to get to jobs, they tend to commute upwards of an hour to 90 minutes to get to their jobsite (see Map 1). Moreover, there’s less vehicle ownership in the area (see Map 2) leading to higher reliance on public transit (see Map 3). 


Map 1: Percent of workers with 60 – 90 min travel time to work 

Source: EnviroAtlas, EPA; America Community Survey 2008-2012


Map 2: Percent of households with Zero vehicles

Source: EnviroAtlas, EPA; America Community Survey 2008-2012


Map 3: Percent of workers who commute to work by transit

Source: EnviroAtlas, EPA; America Community Survey 2008-2012


Making services, goods and opportunities more available to people doesn’t just mean providing more mobile options. It includes making them more accessible, which means putting people and the services/goods/opportunities closer to each other. Not only does it make transportation more efficient, it also helps reduces the negative health, social and economic impacts of transportation.




Comments

  1. AnonymousDecember 10, 2020 at 10:03 PM

    Thanks for sharing Francisco! This resonates pretty strongly with me. I moved around a lot when I was younger and always to areas with limited access to transit. My family's options were to walk a while to hop on a bus to transfer 2-3 times to get to where we needed to go or to buy a car and continue to pay for all the expenses tied to car ownership. It's kind of been frustrating to see .25 mile walkshed as an indicator for good access to transit. That doesn't typically take into account actual distance on foot, different physical ability, the burdens of having children with you, and the difficulty in trip chaining using public transit. I'm also hoping to see accessibility be addressed in future conversations around transportation.

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