Pratt Center for Community Development

Planning, Building, & Educating for Change.

The Pratt Center Transportation Equity Project

Long Commutes for Low Wages
Long Commutes for Low Wages (Click image to open map in PDF format)

The Pratt Center's Transportation Equity project examines ways that New York's transportation systems can improve quality of life and create opportunities for all residents. Transportation initiatives now being debated -- including congestion pricing for commuters entering Manhattan, a cross-harbor freight tunnel, and mass transit expansions -- will shape our city and region for the next century, but the voices of communities with the most at stake are rarely heard in the discussion. We work with community and civic organizations to analyze our transportation systems and develop proposals and strategies for maximizing their benefits to all New Yorkers.

The project is funded by a federal grant authorized under the August 2005 federal surface transportation reauthorization bill -- the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) -- and administered by the New York State Department of Transportation.

Speeding the Longest Commutes

The Pratt Center's Transportation Equity Project is providing research in support of Communities United for Transportation Equity (COMMUTE), a coalition of community organizations around New York City advocating for mass-transit investment for underserved communities, funded through congestion pricing. COMMUTE is calling for an expansion of plans for Bus Rapid Transit, a low-cost, high-impact way to improve mass transportation for neighborhoods not served by subway lines.

COMMUTE: Making Congestion Pricing Work for Working Families Adobe Reader icon

In January 2008, the Transportation Equity Project released an analysis of U.S. Census data that showed alarming inequities in transit service among New Yorkers, with those who earn the least enduring the longest commutes. Three-quarters of a million New Yokrers travel more than one hour each way to work. Two-thirds of them earn less than $35,000 a year. By contrast, just 6 percent of these extreme commuters earn more than $75,000 a year. Black New Yorkers have the longest commute times, 25 percent longer than white commuters; Hispanic commuters have rides 12 percent longer.

Read more about extreme commutes and strategies for shortening them:

Proposed Alternatives to Congestion Pricing Will Increase Traffic

In December 2007, the Pratt Center co-authored a report with Environmental Defense analyzing traffic relief plans proposed as alternatives to congestion pricing. The report demonstrates that three alternative plans proposed by Brooklyn Congressman Anthony Weiner, Brooklyn Councilman Lew Fidler, and The Keep NYC Congestion Tax Free would each actually encourage driving, and as a result attract more traffic in the long term.

Just a Handful Commute By Car

In partnership with the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, in October 2007 the Pratt Center conducted an analysis of Census data on New Yorkers' commutes. It shows that the vast majority of workers would not be affected by a congestion pricing fee, because they do not drive to work alone in what would become the congestion pricing zone (Manhattan below 86th Street). For example, in none of the 65 NYC Assembly districts do more than 7.2% of workers drive alone to the congestion pricing zone. In the majority of NYC Assembly Districts more than half of households earn $40,000 or less, and in these, on average only 2.8% of workers would be affected by a charge.

The fact sheets contain, for each City Council, Assembly, Senate and Congressional district, a breakdown of commuting patterns by mode and destination, vehicle ownership statistics, and the average incomes of vehicle-owning households and non-vehicle-owning households.

Additional Resources: