New BTS Study Examines Transportation Challenges for Welfare Reform

Contact DOT 29-98 BTS Product Line 202-366-DATA Analynn Lacombe 617-494-2161

Tuesday, February 24, 1998 -- The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) today released a new study, Welfare Reform and Access to Jobs in Boston, which demonstrates an approach to assessing transportation needs of welfare recipients.

"This study explores the difficulties that welfare recipients may face when their jobs are located beyond reasonable reach of public transportation facilities," said BTS Deputy Director Robert A. Knisely.

Boston was selected for the study because it has a well-established, comprehensive transit system. Nevertheless, it was found that welfare recipients, who rely heavily on public transportation, often face long, complicated commutes because new entry level jobs are being created in suburban locations and typically have irregular work shift hours.

Boston’s dilemma is also apparent in many large cities across the country.

This study is part of a broader Administration effort to address the role of transportation in welfare reform. The Administration’s surface transportation reauthorization proposal includes

a six-year, $600 million dollar competitive grant program designed to help sates and localities connect welfare recipients to jobs. Legislative proposals in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate include a version of this proposal as part of bills to reauthorize the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991.

DOT is encouraging metropolitan areas and states to assess their transportation needs and collaborate with local human resource providers in developing local solutions to meet those needs. The department is also encouraging the transportation industry to do its part in hiring welfare recipients and is working with the Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services to ensure that transportation is an integral part of their welfare-to-work programs.

For printed copies of Welfare Reform and Access to Jobs in Boston, call (202) 366-DATA (3282), fax (202) 366-3640, or write to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S. Department of Transportation, Room 3430, 400 Seventh Street, S.W., Washington, DC 20590. An electronic version of this report is available on the BTS Internet site at http://www.bts.gov.