Public transportation refers to a wide variety of options, including buses, streetcars, light rail, ferries, and subways that provide “ regular and continuing” transportation to the public and that may incorporate private sector services such as paratransit or ride-sharing. Access to public transportation may also reduce health disparities and promote health equity by increasing access to healthier food options, medical care, vital services, and employment for communities that do not have equal access to these fundamental daily necessities. New or expanded public transportation options can increase access to and use of transit and can improve health outcomes by promoting better air quality, increasing levels of physical activity, decreasing injuries from motor vehicle crashes, and improving mental health. Transportation policies, planning efforts, and infrastructure investments have historically emphasized roads over public and active transportation, contributing to health hazards and segregating communities. Transportation is a component of the built environment, with important impacts on public health and health equity. The remaining 40 percent is related to social and economic factors such as education, employment, and income. Research suggests that an estimated 20 percent of a person’s health can be attributed to clinical care, whereas an estimated 30 percent can be attributed to health behaviors such as diet and exercise, and another 10 percent to the physical environment, including air and water quality, housing, and transit. Health, functioning, and quality of life are products of the social and economic conditions in the environments where people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age. Experts have identified safe and thriving public transit options as essential for communities to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.Improved and aligned metrics can help inform decision making on equitable approaches to transportation planning and implementation by addressing issues such as access, convenience, and cost of transit, as well as the links between access to transportation and poverty.Many states and local governments have already taken important steps in this direction. Several expert scientific bodies have provided guidance for better aligning public transportation and public health goals.Expanded access to public transportation can also improve physical and mental health and health equity by increasing access to medical care, healthy food, vital services, employment, and social connections. New or expanded public transportation options can increase the use of public transit, reducing traffic crashes and air pollution.Among the latter group, women, younger adults, Black workers, and low-income workers are overrepresented to various degrees. Lack of access to public transportation disproportionately harms those who rely on it, including older adults, individuals with disabilities, and commuters.“Public transportation” refers to a wide variety of options that provide regular and continuing transportation to the public and may incorporate private sector services such as paratransit or ride-sharing.
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