Title

Transport and social exclusion phase 2: Evaluating the contribution of transportation projects to welfare to work: an international study: US national report

Authors

Robert Cervero

Document Type

Report

Publication Date

2006

Subject Area

Location - Rural, Location - Urban fringe, Location - USA, Modes of Transport - Bus

Abstract

The United States has a long tradition of mounting transportation programs that seek to connect the inner-city poor to suburban employment opportunities. Interest in specialized transportation to meet the job-access needs of the poor was reawakened by the 1996 "workfare" legislation that introduced work incentives and set limits on welfare dependence. The federal government's Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) established a work-based system of temporary public assistance. This report is divided up into five California case studies; namely San Diego County: connecting job needy neighborhoods with targeted fix-route bus services with a focus on the cost-effectiveness of various reverse-commute bus services over time; Contra Costa County: targeting specialized transportation services to maximize cost-effectiveness, including special transportation for the children of CalWORK's clients and restricted door-to-door shuttle services; Yolo County: serving a large rural employment center with express bus services, with a focus on experiences over time with expanding and fine-tuning a joint publicly/privately sponsored shuttle connection; San Mateo County: increasing access to private automobiles through a family loan program, with a focus on longer term influences of automobile ownership for the very poor on employment outcomes; and Santa Cruz County: a once exemplary job-access program in retrenchment, with a focus on factors that let to the discontinuation of several innovative programs, including advanced-reservation door-to-door shuttles and carpool financial incentives.