The 2011 Pucher study on bicycle riding in the US and Canada supports the statistics re roughly similar levels of biking among whites and African Americans. http://policy.rutgers.edu/faculty/pucher/TRA960_01April2011.pdf. The study shows that for whites the % of all trips that are by bike in 2009 was 1.1, whereas for African Americans it was 1.0. (These numbers might not translate directly into the bike trips per day discussed in this chain because different racial groups may have different average number of trips per day.)
One reason that there may seem to be fewer African Americans bike riders is just because African Americans are only around 12% of the population. Of course, neighborhood segregation also means that people of one race may not see much at all of people of another race. I can't find any statistics on the reason for bike trips broken down by race, but there are stats showing whites and upper income individuals are more likely to bike for recreation and lower income individuals are more likely to bike for basic transportation, so the trip purpose may also affect the numbers of people you see out and about on bikes while you are biking. For example, when I bike home from work in Oakland, I see lots more African Americans on bikes if I leave early than if I go at 5 pm work commute time.
________________________________________
Sara Zimmerman, Senior Staff Attorney
National Policy & Legal Analysis Network to Prevent Childhood Obesity
Public Health Law & Policy
(510) 302-3303
www.phlpnet.org<http://www.phlpnet.org>
The information in this message is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Public Health Law and Policy and its projects do not enter into attorney-client relationships.
This serves as a friendly reminder to inform our Subcommittee's TRB 2013
Workshop Proposal. ***Please email me (eloisa.raynault(a)apha.org) and
Megan Wier (megan.wier(a)sfdph.org) with your thoughts and ideas by
Friday, May 4th, 2012. NOTE: to limit the volume of emails in all of our
inboxes, do not reply directly to this thread.***
The Health & Transportation Subcommittee is proposing a half-day
workshop for the January 2013 TRB Annual Meeting - and we are looking to
our friends for help generating ideas regarding its focus.
As many of you know, at the 2012 TRB Annual Meeting there was a full-day
workshop entitled "Intersection of Health and Transportation: What We
Know, What We Don't Know, and How We Can Better Integrate Health
Considerations into Transportation Decisions." More information
regarding this workshop is available at the following link:
http://pressamp.trb.org/conferenceinteractiveprogram/EventDetails.aspx?I
D=22489.
The workshop was a great success - and generated a lot of ideas
regarding research needs at the intersection of health and
transportation - many of which are summarized here:
http://www.trbhealth.org/research/research-needs.
Examples include:
- Effects of travel and travel environments on social cohesion
- Parking policy as a mechanism for increasing physical activity
- Access needs of different populations
- Road safety disparities
- Health effects of new and improved infrastructure networks for active
transportation modes (e.g., bike ways, sidewalks, trails)
- Local impacts of freight movement
- Health-related indicators in transportation planning
- Creating partnerships between transportation and other health-related
sectors
As the Subcommittee moves forward with its work, what topics (listed at
the above link - OR new ideas that you may have) do you think warrant a
deeper exploration and discussion at the upcoming meeting? Are there
particular areas or speakers that you think would help the subcommittee
to advance research, education, and professional practice in health and
transportation?
Eloisa Raynault | American Public Health Association | 800 I Street, NW,
Washington, DC 20001 | Transportation, Health and Equity Program Manager
| o: 202-777-2487 | http://www.apha.org/transportation
<http://www.apha.org/transportation>
Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.
Eric,
Your comments (pasted in below) to the TRB health and transportation
subcommittee are really interesting and useful.
David Ragland, here at SafeTREC, has done some preliminary work on
non-emergency health transportation systems, which he presented at a
separate workshop around the time of TRB. (He is cc'ed and might have
something to add, as I am not familiar with the specifics of his findings.)
In terms of health care facilities' "friendliness" to active transportation
access, as someone who thinks about bicycle-oriented design and has done 2
papers for TRB on the subject in the last two years, I am struck by the
lack of access--and not just for patients and visitors, but for employees.
Even our Oakland Kaiser campus, which has a longstanding shuttle service
connecting its buildings to BART, falls pretty short in this area. There is
bike parking in the garage, but it's for employees only and in a dark and
sort of scary place, with no signage or wayfinding. The patient parking
area, when I finally found it, is pretty enough, but very small. And this
from a company whose leadership enthusiastically embraces the 10,000 steps
program.
Part of the difficulty is that building owners and operators don't have a
"cookbook" for these designs and, unless they are bicycle riders
themselves, have problems understanding some of the unique needs and
opportunities. (Imagine a changing room, showers and safe and secure bike
parking for staff to avail themselves of lunchbreak bike rides.)
I'm attaching a paper I did with Karen Frick of the University of
California Transportation Center on 4 Berkeley building owners and their
decisions to invest in this "infrastructure that extends beyond the door."
A policy brief is also attached for quicker reading.
As part of my work developing the CATSIP website on active transportation
safety in California, I also am in contact with bike and ped planners
across the state. Some notable activity is taking place in SF and Silicon
Valley, the latter, I am hearing anecdotally, a hotbed of innovative ways
to incorporate bicycle riding and walking into their campuses (Google,
Facebook and Apple, to name a few). I can't help but think it would be of
value to collect their design solutions, along with costs, challenges and
opportunities, into a central toolkit.
Anyway, sorry for the long comments, but it seems like a potentially small
shift in design thinking that could alter the fabric of the built
environment to raise awareness of and participation in active
transportation modes (though we would have to evaluate the response to be
certain).
Best,
Phyllis
--
Communications Director
Safe Transportation Research and Education
Center<http://www.safetrec.berkeley.edu/>
(SafeTREC)
University of California Transportation Center <http://www.uctc.net/> (UCTC)
Institute for Urban and Regional Development <http://www.iurd.berkeley.edu/>
(IURD)
California Active Transportation Safety Information
Pages<http://catsip.berkeley.edu/>
(CATSIP)
2614 Dwight Way
UC Berkeley
Berkeley CA 94720-7374
510-643-1779
@transsafe <https://twitter.com/#!/transsafe>
@californiaUTC <https://twitter.com/#!/CaliforniaUTC>
@IURDBerkeley <https://twitter.com/#!/IURDBerkeley>
@trbhealth <https://twitter.com/#!/trbhealth>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
From: <erik.weber(a)dot.gov>
Subject: Re: [H+T--Friends] Help inform our Subcommittee's TRB 2013
Workshop Proposal!
In preparing a DOT presentation on Transportation and Health at a panel
about social determinants of health and health disparities at NIH for
Nation Minority Health Month, I sketched an outline that I think could be
informative to planning next year:
Transportation's impact on health
* Transportation availability & access to care
* Transportation options & livable communities
* Transportation planning & environmental justice
As I mentioned back at the annual meeting, there is nowhere near enough
research being done on bullet #1, while nos 2&3 get covered by a lot of
disciplines. This subcommittee can help fill that gap. There is a need to
look not only at "transportation decisions" which imply planning of
projects & future impacts, but transportation use and availability and
their impact on individual health outcomes. Arguably, transportation has a
much larger impact on health when considered in the immediate term and on
an individual scale.
To use two specific examples: certainly planning decisions can have large
future aggregate impacts on air quality and respiratory health as a result
- but how many people in the past year have ended up in emergency care, or,
sadly, died because they were unable to get to a preventive appointment
like dialysis or other chronic disease treatment? That's a much more
immediate and measurable impact, yet no one can really say for sure.
That's where, in my opinion, this committee has the biggest opportunity to
contribute.
I think TCRP made a good foray into this area with B-27 "Cost Benefit
Analysis of Providing Non-Emergency Medical Transportation,"<
http://www.trb.org/Main/Public/Blurbs/156625.aspx> but this was really only
a beginning, and happened 7 years ago now.
I would argue that the Public Health sector is pretty strongly engaged in
the transportation discussion and it's time now to engage more people in
the Health Care & Services sectors. In the long term, I think, that
engagement will have benefits for all of the other questions the
subcommittee considers. As hospitals, insurance companies, and other care
providers better understand the direct impact of transportation on their
missions and their bottom lines, the more they will support transportation
options and better transportation planning. I mean how many hospitals are
built today to enable, much less encourage, walking to and from? I sure
haven't seen one recently. To what extent to providers consider
transportation access (beyond driving & parking garages) when placing and
planning new facilities? These are all very important issues which are not
being researched.
Hello, all,
At the risk of adding to the email overload, as communications
co-coordinator for the subcommittee, I'd like to let you know that your
thoughts and concerns means a great deal to us, and we will explore the
various suggestions.
If folks prefer, they can email me and my fellow coordinator, Carey
McAndrews (cc'ed) directly with ideas...in order to reduce email overload.
In the meantime, I am so excited to hear these various discussions taking
place in such a collegial manner.
We definitely want people to feel comfortable taking part or simply
observing or opting out of inbox clutter.
Best,
Phyllis
--
Communications Director
Safe Transportation Research and Education
Center<http://www.safetrec.berkeley.edu/>
(SafeTREC)
University of California Transportation Center <http://www.uctc.net/> (UCTC)
Institute for Urban and Regional Development <http://www.iurd.berkeley.edu/>
(IURD)
California Active Transportation Safety Information
Pages<http://catsip.berkeley.edu/>
(CATSIP)
2614 Dwight Way
UC Berkeley
Berkeley CA 94720-7374
510-643-1779
@transsafe <https://twitter.com/#!/transsafe>
@californiaUTC <https://twitter.com/#!/CaliforniaUTC>
@IURDBerkeley <https://twitter.com/#!/IURDBerkeley>
@trbhealth <https://twitter.com/#!/trbhealth>
Hello. Is it possible to limit my emails from this group? I am interested in health & transportation, but don't have time to read so many emails!
Thank you.
Lois Kimmelman
Environmental Protection Specialist
Federal Transit Administration, Region 5
200 West Adams St., Suite 320
Chicago, IL 60606
312-353-4060
An alternative to a blog is a members-only Facebook page. There's a group
of transportation communicators from private and public sectors who
established one, and it seems to be working well. It's called
Transportation Social Media. Here's the link, but I'm not sure how much of
the site a non-member can see. If someone is interested in this and wants
to contact the administrator of that page to learn how to do it, let me
know.
I like it because I can check it a few times a week and quickly catch up on
postings. Of course, you'd have to be on FB.
For those who want immediate alerts of a posting, you can determine that
setting in FB to get an email notice.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/transportationsocialmedia/
I do hope the group can move to some new communication form and away from
all the emails.
Best regards,
Larry Ehl
Transportation Issues Daily
www.transportationissuesdaily.com
Eric,
Those are great links. We'll be sure to post them on the TRBhealth website
when we do our next update. People tend to forget that bikes were and are a
major source of mobility for the poor. They were the original revolutionary
form of transport in that they enabled working people stranded in the
industrialized inner cities to escape to the healthier rural areas on their
lone days off and WOMEN COULD POWER THEMSELVES WHEREVER THEY WANTED. HG
Wells has a very sweet novella about a hapless shop clerk trying to win the
heart of a woman cyclist. Lots of bruises and scrapes.
Too bad those stats are so old. Is there any eta for updated ones?
RITA rocks!
Phyllis
--
Communications Director
Safe Transportation Research and Education
Center<http://www.safetrec.berkeley.edu/>
(SafeTREC)
University of California Transportation Center <http://www.uctc.net/> (UCTC)
Institute for Urban and Regional Development <http://www.iurd.berkeley.edu/>
(IURD)
California Active Transportation Safety Information
Pages<http://catsip.berkeley.edu/>
(CATSIP)
2614 Dwight Way
UC Berkeley
Berkeley CA 94720-7374
510-643-1779
@transsafe <https://twitter.com/#!/transsafe>
@californiaUTC <https://twitter.com/#!/CaliforniaUTC>
@IURDBerkeley <https://twitter.com/#!/IURDBerkeley>
@trbhealth <https://twitter.com/#!/trbhealth>
Jerry,
I, too, have an aversion to tracking discussions in long list-serv threads.
I always worry I'll miss something or read the same thing twice.
As co-coordinator for communications for the subcommittee, I'm interested
in coming up with new ways to reach people. When you say "chat room" do
you have any specific examples you like? We may be able to add something to
the website through google sites, though I'm not sure how private it could
be. Or we could start a blog. Thoughts? Everyone?
Best,
Phyllis
--
Communications Director
Safe Transportation Research and Education
Center<http://www.safetrec.berkeley.edu/>
(SafeTREC)
University of California Transportation Center <http://www.uctc.net/> (UCTC)
Institute for Urban and Regional Development <http://www.iurd.berkeley.edu/>
(IURD)
California Active Transportation Safety Information
Pages<http://catsip.berkeley.edu/>
(CATSIP)
2614 Dwight Way
UC Berkeley
Berkeley CA 94720-7374
510-643-1779
@transsafe <https://twitter.com/#!/transsafe>
@californiaUTC <https://twitter.com/#!/CaliforniaUTC>
@IURDBerkeley <https://twitter.com/#!/IURDBerkeley>
@trbhealth <https://twitter.com/#!/trbhealth>
Marc
Thanks for the comments. That's what was so interesting about our survey of
building owners in Berkeley, because they had consciously chosen to invest
in BOD to various degrees. Two of them (LBL and the Brower Center) went so
far as to supply showers.
One of the aspects of this type of investment that may be overlooked is
that these facilities at a workplace facilitate all types of participation
in physical activity: walking to work, or getting off the bus or train one
or two stops early and hiking in with comfortable shoes, knowing your
office footwear is already there, taking lunchtime or break time walks or
even bike rides (as is the case at LAX now that the airport completed its
connection to a popular bike trail).
So, yes, it's important to keep costs in mind, but also benefits.
Cheers,
Phyllis
--
Communications Director
Safe Transportation Research and Education
Center<http://www.safetrec.berkeley.edu/>
(SafeTREC)
University of California Transportation Center <http://www.uctc.net/> (UCTC)
Institute for Urban and Regional Development <http://www.iurd.berkeley.edu/>
(IURD)
California Active Transportation Safety Information
Pages<http://catsip.berkeley.edu/>
(CATSIP)
2614 Dwight Way
UC Berkeley
Berkeley CA 94720-7374
510-643-1779
@transsafe <https://twitter.com/#!/transsafe>
@californiaUTC <https://twitter.com/#!/CaliforniaUTC>
@IURDBerkeley <https://twitter.com/#!/IURDBerkeley>
@trbhealth <https://twitter.com/#!/trbhealth>
I am out of the office from Thu 04/19/2012 until Mon 04/30/2012.
I will be away from my office until April 30. Please call my cell if you
want to reach me. 202.494.5539
Note: This is an automated response to your message "Re: [H+T--Friends]
active transportation access to health care facilities" sent on
4/19/2012 8:33:15 AM.
This is the only notification you will receive while this person is away.