Find Reports and Papers

Please feel free to use Older Dominion Partnership's resources under the terms of this site, and contact us with feedback and suggestions, and/or submit a study.

For a complete listing of studies and reports click here, or search by the study's sponsor, the topic, and/or date of the study:


Source:
Topic:
Year:

Transportation » Transportation Resource Awareness

Why It's Important

Just because public transportation is available, does not mean that residents know about it or know how to use it most efficiently. Transportation resources must be made available to the public.

See Data By: Richmond MSA | Virginia | National

How Richmond Is Doing

According to the 2007 Virginia State of the Commute:

  • 44% of Richmond Resident Commuters knew of a phone number or Web site where they could obtain information on public transportation, HOV lanes, and telecommuting in the area where they live and work.

  • The older the respondent was, the more likely they were to know of this service. Fifty percent of Seniors (GI/Silent Generation) and forty-seven percent of Boomers knew of a phone number or Web site; however, this difference is not significant due to the small sample size of Seniors in this study.

Larger communities have Transportation Demand Management (TDM, sometimes-called Rideshare) agencies. These agencies focus on reducing travel via single-occupancy vehicles by encouraging “alternate mode” travel such as carpooling, riding the bus or train, bicycling, and walking among others. These TDM agencies are also helpful in areas with multi-modal transportation options (such as bus or subway) and often advertise for and train residents to use public transportation. Many areas also have para-transit options for those who are mobility-impaired.

  • Richmond’s local TDM agency, RideFinders (a division of GRTC) actually had the highest unaided recall of all agencies in Virginia. Nine percent of respondents were able to identify RideFinders (11% of Boomers and 9% of Seniors).

  • RideFinders also had the highest overall awareness as 75 percent of Richmond Resident Commuters knew of RideFinders (some when prompted) – 80 percent of Boomers and 71 percent of Seniors.

How Virginia Is Doing

Content coming.

How the U.S. Is Doing

Our national transportation policy can address more comprehensively and more effectively the needs of aging Americans through reauthorization of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA 21). Reauthorization is the best way to assure that public transportation is adequately funded, more widely available, more accessible, and more fully integrated with community-based and human-service transportation services.

Data & Information Sources

Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation, VA State of the Commute, 2007

http://www.drpt.virginia.gov/activities/stateofcommute.aspx