Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Public Transit’s Savings Quantified

Mobilizing the Region: "The analysis bolsters findings from the Center for Neighborhood Technology which has shown the importance in connecting housing and transportation costs to better understand neighborhood affordability. CNT’s H+T Index makes clear that when transportation costs are included into determining housing affordability, some “inexpensive” areas become considerably more costly to live in, while some “expensive” areas that have access to public transportation become more affordable."

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Guest Column: A Valley Divided by Public Transportation

The Valley Advocate: "As a cultural anthropologist working on environmental, health and socioeconomic equity issues in Springfield, I have observed for too long that the racially- and class-stratified “tofu curtain” has divided the Pioneer Valley into an affluent, mostly white north and a marginalized but diversified south. Nowhere is this truer than for the people of Springfield and Holyoke. A significant structural factor has been the lack of affordable, accessible and sufficient regional public transit. This gap in our regional infrastructure has profoundly negative environmental consequences, contributes to global warming, negatively impacts public health, reinforces racial apartheid and creates enormous economic hardship for the poorest among us."

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