All Aboard for Nature: Improving Outdoor Access Through Public Transportation | Article

Every year, the Trust for Public Land, a conservation nonprofit, ranks each of the 100 largest U.S. cities based on the quality and quantity of parks a 10-minute walk away from residents. In 2021, Seattle was ninth: 96 percent of its residents—of any race or income level—can easily walk to a park.

Twelve miles south, in the suburban city of Tukwila (population 20,200), park access is not so equitable. Less than half of residents in the majority people of color neighborhoods in the city live near a park.

Map of the Trailhead Direct transit system. Photo courtesy of King County.

King County Parks and King County Metro, the joint operators of a service called Trailhead Direct, a weekend shuttle service launched in 2017 that takes riders to 150 miles of trails, saw an opportunity to fill this gap. Trailhead Direct had three routes, but none south of Seattle. Using feedback from community partners like The Wilderness Society and the Environmental Coalition of South Seattle, the team created a fourth route in 2019 that starts at a Tukwila light rail station.

“It was closer to the communities and organizations we were working with for outreach about Trailhead Direct,” Ryan Dotson, the King County Parks lead for Trailhead Direct, said. That year, there was a 75 percent increase in Trailhead Direct ridership for a total of 17,500 riders.

Trailhead Direct is a real-life example of how intentionally designed public transportation programs can increase access to public lands for people who could not easily get to green spaces before. It is precisely what Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Representative Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) hope to see developed around the country if the Transit to Trails Act of 2021 (S.1461/H.R.2924) passes.

The Transit to Trails Act would establish a grant program to provide up to $500,000 for projects that increase public transportation access to public lands for critically underserved communities. The same text is also incorporated into the Environmental Justice for All Act (S.872/H.R.2021) and the INVEST in America Act (H.R.3684), which passed the House on July 1, 2021.

While Trailhead Direct was not explicitly created to address inequitable park access—rather, it sought to address overcrowded parking lots, which were a safety hazard—there is plenty of need for U.S. public transit systems to increase outdoor equity. Seventy-four percent of U.S. communities of color live in nature-deprived areas, compared to 23 percent of predominantly white communities. Low-income people also have less access to parks than wealthier people. On public lands, the National Park Service’s most recent survey found that only 20 percent of National Park visitors were people of color, despite composing about 42 percent of the total U.S. population.

Having access to green spaces can also be a life-long health determinant. Without parks to provide shade, temperatures can soar, increasing the risk of heatstroke and other illnesses. Neighborhoods that were redlined—a 1930s and 40s housing policy that denied loans to mostly Black and brown communities—today remain primarily communities of color and are more likely to have fewer green spaces. One study found that for 94 percent of 108 U.S. urban areas surveyed, formerly redlined areas could be 12.6 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than non-redlined ones. People living in nature-deprived areas are also exposed to more pollution and are more likely to develop respiratory problems such as asthma. Overall, there is strong scientific support that access to green spaces improves physical and mental health.

Switching from personal vehicles to public transit can also help lower global greenhouse gas emissions. The transportation sector is responsible for the largest share of U.S. emissions and transitioning to public transit can reduce energy use, pollution, and emissions by millions of metric tons a year.

When it comes to park access, “the 10-minute walk metric is really important for cities,” Linda Hwang, director of innovation and strategy at the Trust for Public Land, said. “As you spread out into smaller towns and cities that are less densely populated, walking isn’t really how people get to public lands”—which makes public transit systems like Trailhead Direct all the more important.

Nature Connectors bus in the Twin Cities region. Photo courtesy of Metro Transit.

King County is not the only U.S. region with this kind of system. Los Angeles’s transit program takes riders to the San Gabriel Mountains and surrounding areas. In 2019, Minneapolis ran a summer pilot program where buses that stopped at regional parks were wrapped in a colorful print to provide a visual cue for riders.

“Our goal was just to raise awareness where there were good connections already, but maybe not a clear access point,” Amanda Lovelee, parks ambassador for the Metropolitan Council in the Twin Cities region, said.

Since the Minneapolis program only ran for a few months, Lovelee described it as “just the beginning.” She could imagine how Transit to Trails Act funds could support thoughtful planning and marketing of outdoor transit systems across city agencies to provide better services for residents.

Back in Seattle, King County has recently launched the Equitable Park Access Community Survey, working with community organizations to assess how people use parks, what barriers exist to use or access, and generally gather more data on transit access to outdoor spaces.

“Everyone’s lived experience is different,” Helen Potter, a King County Parks program manager working on the project, said. “A barrier could be concerns about safety, or not wanting to go by yourself… the data might not reveal this and it might be something where [these concerns] reveal themselves more in community spaces where we are creating conversations or with a community organization leader who people trust.”

Riders take Trailhead Direct straight to a hike. Photo courtesy of Issaquah Alps Trails Club.

Building these kinds of community relationships to create an effective, equitable transit system that connects people to parks takes time and money. When these costs are added to the capital investment needed for buses and other transit infrastructure, it can be expensive. King County’s program is unique because it shares buses with a weekday system, plus the county had funding for pilot programs. Many other cities do not have these resources.

Funding from the Transit to Trails Act grant program could help municipalities conduct the in-depth equity work that is necessary to adequately reach underserved communities. It would also help with the costs for buses, education campaigns, signage, and outreach. Given the capacity and resources, cities around the country could begin to operate transit-to-trails programs, increasing outdoor access for all.

“There’s so much opportunity,” Hwang concluded, “to bring equity into transit planning, investment, use, programming, and access.”

Author: Emma Johnson