January 28, 2025
The DVRPC Board approved the new Equity Through Access report, which serves as the organization’s Coordinated Human Services Transportation Plan.
At its January meeting, the DVRPC Board approved the new Equity Through Access (ETA) report. This report identifies the transportation needs of individuals with disabilities, seniors, and people with low incomes; provides strategies for meeting those needs; and prioritizes transportation services for funding and implementation. The ETA report serves as the region’s Coordinated Human Services Transportation Plan (CHSTP).
The CHSTP fosters a deeper understanding of the needs of communities that have traditionally faced barriers navigating the nation’s infrastructure. Equity Through Access documents the transportation challenges that exist for both riders and providers, detailing their experiences and creating connections to prioritize. The analysis is also available in an Equity Through Access web map that helps users visualize where there is a potentially high need to improve transit service for vulnerable populations to reach essential services in the Greater Philadelphia region.
Additionally, the report includes definitions, demographics, and information about outreach and engagement. It highlights service, funding, data, and coordination challenges for providers and riders, and concludes with a summary of key priorities that transportation planners, policymakers, and accessible transportation providers should address in the next four years. The 2024 ETA update was shaped by engagement and outreach that focused on the needs of direct and indirect providers, and how to connect those needs to those of riders. This deep engagement with transportation providers was not explored in previous years but was identified as a priority by vulnerable communities in the 2020 plan. View the report.