Equitable Access to Transportation Services in the Texas Triangle

Equitable Access to Transportation Services in the Texas Triangle

Session presenters from the University of Houston and Texas Southern University will share regional strategies for broadening access to rural transportation services and e-mobility.

OBJECTIVE: Attendees will learn how to promote equity in connecting regions, including urban and rural communities; define and map and electric mobility equity indicators to inform incentive and infrastructure strategies; and improve the reliability and affordability of e-mobility services.

Equitable E-Mobility: EV Adoption Indicators, Index, Mapping, and Strategies

Over the next decade, the United States will take significant steps towards electrifying transportation to meet Biden-Harris Administration goal of 50% of new vehicle purchases being EV by 2030. Greater access to new electric mobility technologies requires reduction in economic barriers to electric vehicle (EV) ownership and transportation services. Employing smart transportation services, infrastructure, and vehicles can improve regional mobility while lowering emissions, increasing transit use, and reducing congestion.

Dr. Race is participating in collaborative partnerships between cities, transit agencies, electric mobility companies, research institutions, fast charging developers, and ridesharing services making the EV “adoption curve” more inclusive. To understand the patterns of inequitable access, Race has prepared EV adoption indicators and an index. These have been used to map the patterns of e-mobility access in Harris County and identify the geographic focus for incentives and strategies.

The research is supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation.

Access to Transportation Services for Rural Texas Communities

Vulnerable communities from Houston to Austin, along the Texas Triangle and along the Gulf Coast from Corpus Christie to the Texas eastern state boundary are underserved by transit services. Our megaregion is the engine of the Texas economy and a primary contributor to extreme traffic congestion. The urban core cities that anchor the megaregion have metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) with sophisticated staff that conduct their planning activities. Often communities in the interstices, areas between the anchor cities, are not in MPOs and have small underfunded planning staffs. Increasingly, low income, ethnic and senior residents might be left on the fringes of society if attention is not focused on their travel requirements as part of megaregional planning. Crossing jurisdictional boundaries for residents of these communities to reach essential activities and services, such as education, employment, medical, retail or recreation that have moved further from their locations result in travel challenges.

Dr. Lewis will share research finding and related recommendations from a multi-institution study of the communities in between Texas large metros. Her community-based research has resulted in a rubric for increasing access to opportunities that promote equity in connecting regions and communities, including urban and rural communities. The context includes research teams working on a regional conceptual planning framework, multi-model planning, and potential impacts of automated vehicles including emergency services.

The research is funded by a grant from the US Department of Transportation.


INTRODUCTION

A REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE: Urban and Rural Mobility

E-MOBILITY EQUITY INDICATORS AND INDEX: Transportation Climate Actions

RURAL STRATEGIES: Underserved Communities and Potential Strategies

Q+A