Add one more gap that people of color in the Twin Cities region must overcome to make the promise of upward mobility a reality: the transit gap.
Emerging research is showing that the relationship between transit and being able to escape poverty is as significant — perhaps more so — as education, employment and health inequities between whites and racial minorities.
Building on that research, a group of Metro-region equity advocates used Census data to quantify what they called the transit time penalty. Comparing commute times between whites driving in single occupant vehicles and those dependent on transit, the report, “It’s About Time,” points out that the transit users devote more time to getting to work and less toward family time or other activities. And since black, Latino and Native American residents are more likely than whites to depend on transit, they pay the transit time penalty disproportionately.
“Transit isn’t just about getting on the bus and putting some quarters in slots, it’s about how a mode of transportation can help people get to work, get to school, improve their lives or frankly be a hindrance,” Anthony Newby, executive director of Neighborhoods Organizing for Change, said at a Tuesday press event at the state capital.
The coalition — which includes NOC, Isaiah, TakeAction Minnesota and the Center for Popular Democracy — was lobbying for the DFL transportation plan, especially Gov. Mark Dayton’s proposal to let Metro counties increase the local sales tax for transit improvements from a quarter percent to 1 percent. That additional money would allow Metro Transit to implement its Service Improvement Plan 2015-2030. Part of the plan would address the region’s areas of concentrated poverty with more service, expanded options (including bus rapid transit) and improved amenities, such as better shelters and more security.
The impact of longer commutes
The report describes some things that have become well known with regard to Minnesota’s large racial disparities, and adds transit inequities to the list. Broken down by race, Asian and black transit riders in Minnesota lose three and half weeks more time commuting via transit than whites who commute by driving alone. For Latino commuters, the lost time is nearly four and a half weeks.
The report follows a New York Times analysis on the impact of transportation on poverty. Based on research by a team of Harvard professors on factors related to upward mobility, the Times concluded that “commuting time has emerged as the single strongest factor in the odds of escaping poverty. The longer an average commute in a given county, the worse the chances of low-income families there moving up the ladder.
“The relationship between transportation and social mobility is stronger than that between mobility and several other factors, like crime, elementary-school test scores or the percentage of two-parent families in a community, said Nathaniel Hendren, a Harvard economist and one of the researchers on the study.”
Transit commuting is even more onerous for those traveling from the cities to suburbs where service is less frequent, the report noted. Some suburbs that opt out of regional Metro Transit skew service toward taking residents from the suburbs to the downtowns, but not so much on the reverse commute. Harry Maddox, a NOC organizer who lives in South Minneapolis, said he spends two to three hours a day commuting and getting to meetings. But he said the longest trips are to see his daughter, who lives in St. Cloud. Between getting to and from the Northstar Line commuter train and the ride itself, the trip can take more than three hours each way.
“My daughter is No. 1, she’s No. 1 in my life. It shouldn’t take that long to go see her. It really shouldn’t,” Maddox said.
Convenience factor
Most of the region’s commuters use cars to get to work. That is true of racial minorities as well as whites, although fewer whites than racial minority residents use transit. And those who cannot afford the costs of a car don’t have the option. Rep. Carolyn Laine, DFL-Columbia Heights, said she took the transit challenge issued by transit advocates earlier this year. She said she wasn’t able to get to and from the Legislature via transit for even one day.
“The white person with a car, you’re just not going to do it. It’s just not convenient,” she said. “It’s too much time. But then there’s others who have to do it so this is a very important point.”
The Minnesota study did not look specifically for gaps in transit service for routes serving predominantly white neighborhoods and those serving predominantly minority neighborhoods. But it did speak to some quality differences. Within Metro Transit service areas, the number and quality of heated shelters skewed toward more-affluent areas. That is something Metro Transit’s service improvement plan will try to remedy.
Quality of amenities between Metro and suburban lines varies widely. Lesley Anne Crosby said she finally gave up a massage therapy job in Eden Prairie because the commute was too difficult. “But when I got to Eden Prairie, the buses were fantastic,” she said. “It has Wi-Fi and a little plug to put my phone in.” Newby then turned to those behind him and asked “How many people have been on a bus in North Minneapolis with Wi-Fi and padded seat? Me neither.”
