Improve Access to Transit
According to data collected from the 2001 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS), public transit in America captures 1.76 percent of all personal trips, amounting to about 6.4 billion linked transit trips and 7.7 billion unlinked transit trips. Transit captures about 5.1 percent of all work trips. These percentages are higher in large cities and among persons who do not own a car or do not have a driver's license.
Every transit rider is a pedestrian. Some riders have a short walk from their parking lot to the rail platform or bus station. Others have a longer walk from their home, office, or commercial center to the bus or rail stop. Some transit users must cross the street to get to a transit stop, or to get from a stop to their final destination. It is critical that transit stops and their surrounding environments be safe and accessible for every transit user, in order to protect transit riders as well as better support and encourage transit use.
This section provides ways to improve access to transit and considerations for transit planning and transit stop design.
