Role of Transportation in Addressing Barriers to Economic Opportunity

Figure 2: The location of jobs throughout the region

Figure 2 shows that jobs are located throughout the Bay Area, but are clustered in several centers, and primarily located in the inner core of the Bay Area: Oakland to San Jose to San Francisco. Since home prices have pushed lower income residents to outlying communities, many Bay Area residents have long commutes. Low-income residents in outlying communities such as Antioch or Livermore are more limited in the jobs they can access without owning a car.

According to our analysis of areas with frequent transit, 51% of all jobs in the region are located within a half mile of a train or a quarter mile of a public bus running every 15 minutes or more frequently. This excludes private employee shuttles offering service to a single company. However, the ability of residents to take transit to work depends on transit availability at both their home and work, the ability to easily transfer between lines, the frequency of transit, travel time, and cost.

Figure 3: Average Weighted Employment Density by Income

Source: U.S. Census Longitudinal Employer Dynamics, 2010.

While some of the region’s most concentrated job centers – downtown San Francisco, downtown Oakland, and parts of Santa Clara County – offer a diversity of jobs at all skill and wage levels, an analysis of average job density shows that there is a marked contrast between the concentration of low-wage jobs and of middle- or high-wage jobs throughout the region. Figure 3 shows that the average weighted density of high-wage jobs (paying more than $40,000 annually) is about 32 jobs per acre, compared with low-wage jobs (paying $15,000 or less annually), which average about 4.7 jobs per acre.

Job density affects the ability of transit to serve job centers. High-density job centers are key priorities for transit service as they have the potential to generate significantly more transit riders, and are thus more efficient to serve. For low-income workers who cannot afford to drive, the fact that low-wage jobs are in lower density places, on average, means that walking, biking and transit infrastructure will all be important commuting elements as many low-income workers will likely use a combination of all the above for their daily work commute.

Figure 4: Bay Area Commute Time by Income

Source: PUMS, American Community Survey 2006-2010

Commute times and the cost of transportation place heavy burdens on low-income workers. This is particularly true for the lowest-income workers in the Bay Area. Figure 4 shows, for example, that workers earning less than $20,000 per year are twice as likely to have commutes that take an hour or longer each way. More than a third of low-income workers have commutes longer than an hour.

The majority of workers at all wage levels drive to work in the Bay Area. However, workers in the lowest income category are more likely to walk or take transit to their jobs than the average Bay Area commuter. About 17% of workers making less than $20,000 a year take transit or walk, compared to 13% of all workers in the region.

It is also important to note that the difference in commute patterns (commute time and mode) of low-income workers and moderate-income workers is more significant than the difference between those of moderate-income workers and high-income workers. This underscores the greater need for transit service among the lowest-paid workers in the region, who are more transit-dependent than higher earning workers, and that transit service can potentially have a more substantial impact on the economic opportunities for low-income workers than on those of moderate-income workers, who typically have more transportation options.

Figure 5: Middle-Income Job Concentrations in the Bay Area

Brief One outlined a number of potential strategies for increasing economic opportunities for low-income workers. One of these strategies is to increase access to career-ladder jobs. This study evaluated career-ladder jobs in a number of ways. This section describes the location of all jobs requiring more than a high school degree but less than a bachelor’s degree, or “middle-skill jobs.” Brief Three offers more detail on specific industries with concentrations of career-ladder jobs using a definition that incorporates job stability, upward mobility and pay, in addition to educational attainment.

Figure 5 shows the location of middle-skill jobs throughout the region. About 50% of middle-skill jobs are located near frequent transit. Many are concentrated in the region’s main job centers: downtown San Francisco, downtown Oakland, downtown San Jose, Pleasanton, Walnut Creek, etc. These centers employ workers with some formal training or on-the-job experience, such as administrative staff, and are therefore economically diverse. But the region’s job centers differ in the types of jobs they offer, both in terms of skill set and pay. The “Case Studies” section later in this brief compares and contrasts several of the region’s job centers.

While many job centers are near transit, the ability of workers to take transit to work varies greatly depending on the location of the job center. A number of factors determine whether a job is truly “transit-oriented” for an employee, including the proximity of transit to a job center, the hours transit is available, and the hours worked.

San Francisco International Airport’s large workforce broadly reflects the skill and wage levels of Bay Area employment as a whole. The SFO district draws workers from as far away as Sacramento and San Joaquin Counties, showing just how far workers will travel for jobs. Because it operates on a 24-hour basis, the SFO district poses commute challenges that highlight the problems employees face when trying to use transit to access jobs at off-peak hours.

The SFO district employs 34,000 people at diverse businesses at and near the airport. Positions range from management and engineering jobs to food service and custodial jobs. The airport also provides a large number of middle-skill, middle-wage jobs in warehousing and logistics management.

Figure 11: Commuting Pattern to SFO.

About 57% of jobs in the SFO district are classified as low- and middle-skill, about the same percentage as jobs in the Bay Area as a whole. SFO district jobs are also broadly representative of regional wages, with 40% of jobs paying less than $40,000 a year, compared to 48% for the Bay Area region.

The SFO district demonstrates the barriers low-income and shift workers face in getting to their jobs. Although the SFO district is located directly on BART, which connects to the Caltrain line, and is served by SamTrans buses, many employees find it difficult to use transit to get to work. The airport and supporting businesses run on a 24-hour schedule, but transit schedules do not match these needs. BART does not start service until 4:30 a.m. and service ends around midnight. Bus options are sparse, and many bus lines were cut when BART added a direct connection to SFO. Transportation options including cabs, shuttles, and driving/parking are designed and priced for airport passengers, not for workers, and are too expensive for daily commuting.

SFO airport workers have very difficult commutes throughout the Bay Area, especially during “off-peak” hours. For example, in order to take BART to a 5 a.m. shift, a worker from Hayward would have to arrive the night before and sleep at the airport, in order to arrive on time. The cost of BART is also high, at nearly $20 round-trip. If the worker wanted to take a bus instead, she would have to spend four hours in transit and make three transfers.

Not only are the limited hours of transit a problem, many low-income workers lack a way to get from their homes in neighborhoods with limited transit access to a rail station or regional bus stop to start their journey to work, especially during “off-peak” hours.

Since housing costs in San Mateo County are relatively high compared to other areas in the region, many SFO district workers cannot afford to live near the airport. Only 43% of airport workers live within 10 miles of their workplace. Along the BART and Caltrain lines leading to the airport, there is relatively little housing affordable to the majority of workers at the airport. The housing and transit available near the airport district do not match the needs of its workforce. The high monetary, time, and stress costs of commuting affect both productivity and the health and quality of life for workers and their families.

Where workers in Download Oakland live.

Downtown Oakland represents a high-density, urban employment center with a range of housing prices nearby and good transit connections. It has a mix of office, retail, and restaurant jobs, and like the SFO district, is located on major rail and bus lines. Like the SFO district, it has a large supply of low- and middle-skill jobs and about 34% of workers make less than $40,000. However, with a smaller percentage of shift work and more affordable housing nearby, it is more accessible to a variety of employees.

Where workers at Bishop Ranch live.

Twenty miles southeast of downtown Oakland, Bishop Ranch in San Ramon represents a moderate density suburban employment center with no direct rail connection, but with good bus connections to rail stops. This large office park, which is owned by a single entity and leases offices to scores of tenants, reports having achieved 33% transit ridership from 30,000 employees, through coordination with public transit agencies and its own private bus shuttle service. The owners of Bishop Ranch actively promote their transportation services to both employees and corporate tenants, and use transit incentives including free public bus passes for all tenants to market their leasable space. While Bishop Ranch has a substantial proportion of workers earning less than $40,000—29% of all employees—the fact that most of its employees work standard office hours makes it easier to meet their transit needs. For low-income workers, since the “last-mile” connections to Bishop Ranch are relatively frequent, the biggest challenge to getting to work may be the segment from home to BART or a bus – the “first-mile” connections.