Can you get where you need to go?

Quick – What’s the first thing you think of when you hear these words: the region’s transportation system?

If you’re like me, you might have thought of roads (or that pothole you hit on the way into work), or perhaps you thought of the bus you take to work each morning, or maybe you conjured an aerial image of highways…like this one.

I-94 and M-10 Interchange in Detroit

When considering a transportation system, it is common to think of how we travel (e.g., roads, cars, buses, bikes, planes, or trains). However, we often neglect the equally important reasons why we travel. To get the whole picture, we need to consider two questions:

1. Where do I need to go? (core services)
2. How am I going to get there? (access)

To answer these questions, SEMCOG launched the Access to Core Services Task Force early last year. We answered the question of core services as including jobs, transit, health care facilities, supermarkets, parks, schools, and libraries. And we focused the question of access on the travel time needed to reach these core services by automobile, transit, walking, and bicycling.

In addition to defining access and core services, SEMCOG’s new report, Access to Core Services in Southeast Michigan, identifies challenges or gaps in reaching destinations, develops accessibility benchmarks, and proposes policies and actions to improve accessibility in the region.

Accessibility challenges can be seen in how few core services are accessible within our benchmarks.

BENCHMARK: To make fixed-route transit accessible within a 30-minute walk of as many households as possible.
REALITY: 20 percent of transit-dependent households are beyond a 30-minute walk to fixed-route transit; 35 percent are beyond a 10-minute walk. Bus availability and frequency of service is often a challenge.

BENCHMARK: To ensure jobs are accessible within a 90-minute, fixed-route transit trip.
REALITY: 22 percent of the region’s jobs are accessible within a 90-minute, fixed-route transit trip. Increasing transit coverage and level of services would have a positive impact on jobs accessibility by fixed-route transit. Three DDOT routes – Woodward, Gratiot, and Grand River have recently expanded service to 24 hours; this should help with accessibility.

BENCHMARK: To make health care facilities accessible within a 30-minute walk or 30-minute transit trip.
REALITY: 65 percent of households with seniors are beyond a 30-minute transit trip to any health care facility; nearly half are beyond a 30-minute walk.

BENCHMARK: To make parks and schools accessible within a 10-minute walk of as many households as possible.
REALITY: 50 percent of households with children are beyond a 10-minute walk to either a public park or school.

As you can see, we have a long way to go, but data and mapping will allow us to zero in on the highest leverage opportunities for improving access. SEMCOG’s Map Gallery now includes a section dedicated to Access to Core Services, which displays access to hospitals, community health centers, parks, large regional parks, and supermarkets.

These maps help to provide an understanding of where core services are located and the level of accessibility that currently exists. With this greater understanding, local and regional planning efforts can strategically link residents to reach core services.

In addition to the task force, SEMCOG partnered with the Michigan Fitness Foundation and six local community-based, nonprofit organizations to collect direct community feedback through community conversations on the challenges of accessibility in the region. One of these partners was the Programs to Educate All Cyclists (PEAC), which hosted community conversations with the youth they serve in their Active Transportation Program to learn more about the places they need to go, how they currently travel there, and any travel challenges they face. Check out this great video they produced on the importance of access.

Transportation Matters from PEAC on Vimeo.