Community transportation : alternative transportation provision in a low-income neighborhoods in southeast Atlanta

Abstract

Regional transit agencies are ineffective at meeting many of the basic transportation needs of a clustered "Study Area" of low-income Atlanta neighborhoods. For transit dependant residents in the Study Area, getting to the grocery store or to suburban job centers, for example, is difficult or impossible. This exploratory thesis approaches transportation access problems in these neighborhoods from a community-based perspective. In response to the ineffectiveness of regional transportation agencies, this thesis asks, "Can low-income neighborhoods create their own solutions to their unique transportation problems?" In order to answer this question, a community transportation planning process was conducted, three case studies were collected and analyzed, and potential solutions were forwarded. In the end, these neighborhoods have the ability to alleviate many of their transportation problems through primarily organizing their existing assets. A proposed Community Transportation Organization (CTO), with accountability to local residents and expertise to implement transportation projects, could help organize these assets and produce needed services. The community transportation planning process and case studies uncovered that the CTO should organize the following services: a jitney service to the grocery store, neighborhood carpools to suburban job centers, and jitney supplements to troubled bus routes.