Category: Announcement

Transit-Walkability Collaborative Established

Transit-Walkability Collaborative Established

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New coalition plans to promote walkable, transit-rich communities

America Walks announced today the formation of the Transit-Walkability Collaborative, whose purpose is to expand safe, healthy, equitable, and sustainable communities by harnessing the synergy between walkability and quality public transit service.

The nine founding members of the new coalition work at the national, state, and local level in the walkability and transit advocacy movements. They are Center for Transportation Excellence, American Public Transportation Association, National Association of Public Transportation Advocates, Victoria Transport Policy Institute, Circulate San Diego, WalkDenver, Health by Design/Indiana Citizens’ Alliance for Transit, WalkBoston, and America Walks. Each organization has signed on to a shared Statement of Purpose, which can be found on the America Walks web site here:

The Transit-Walkability Collaborative notes that integrating walkability and public transit helps to create safe, affordable, and enjoyable neighborhoods, whose residents complete their daily activities while owning fewer vehicles and driving less often.  These communities experience significant public and private-sector cost savings, lower rates of traffic fatalities, reduced air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, higher levels of physical activity, and a better quality of life – especially for low-income families.

“Walkability and transit advocacy complement each other and accomplish common goals neither can achieve on its own,” said Ian Thomas, State and Local Program Director with America Walks and coordinator of the Collaborative. “By ensuring a high level of service for both walking and public transport, we stimulate mutually-reinforcing community benefits that help address a range of social problems – from health to economics to quality of life.”

The Transit-Walkability Collaborative has identified long-term objectives in the areas of research, communications, capacity-building, and policy change, and adopted a 2017 Action Plan.  One of the first priorities will be to conduct an environmental scan of walkability and transit advocacy groups, and then expand the circle further.  “We also plan to reach out to organizations with primary interests in bicycling, disabilities/access, social equity, public health, and smart growth,“ said Thomas.

Several upcoming events are being planned to stimulate more interest and discussion about the alignment of walkability and transit campaigns.  A fact sheet will be published in March in conjunction with a special webinar, and an online survey will be launched at the same time – to collect information about the ways walkability and transit advocates are collaborating around the country and what support they need.

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About WalkBoston: WalkBoston makes walking safer and easier in Massachusetts to encourage better health, a cleaner environment and vibrant communities.

About the Transit-Walkability Collaborative:  The Transit-Walkability Collaborative exists to promote the benefits of walkable, transit-rich communities; to bring together transit and walkability advocates at the local, state, and national level; and to identify and implement programs and policies that simultaneously expand walkability and transit services in communities across the U.S.  The founding members are:

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7 Massachusetts Communities make “Best Complete Streets Policies of 2015″ list!

7 Massachusetts Communities make “Best Complete Streets Policies of 2015″ list!

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April 12, 2016:

Today, Smart Growth America’s National Complete Streets Coalition unveiled their rankings for the best Complete Streets policies that were passed in the nation in 2015.

Complete Streets policies—including laws, resolutions, executive orders, policies, and planning and design documents—encourage and provide safe access to destinations for everyone, regardless of age, ability, income, ethnicity, or how they travel. “The presence of improved walkways and bicycle facilities encourages an active, healthy lifestyle and can lead to improved safety for all people, no matter how they travel through our cities and towns,” said Wendy Landman, Executive Director of WalkBoston. “At some point in every trip, everyone is a pedestrian.”

Congratulations to all the Massachusetts communities that passed Complete Streets ordinances in 2015, and especially the communities that landed on Smart Growth America’s best policies list: Longmeadow (tied for 3rd), Weymouth (4th), Ashland, Natick and Norwell (all tied for 7th), Lynn and Framingham ( tied for 9th).

While over 30 cities and towns in Massachusetts have already taken steps to implement Complete Streets, the new MassDOT Complete Streets Funding Program is helping to provide support to encourage even more cities and towns do so.

“The creation and implementation of the Complete Streets Funding Program has been a top priority for us and for our public health partners across the state,” said Rebekah Gewirtz, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Public Health Association. “Making it safe – and in some cases just plain possible – to walk, bike, and use transit will improve public health; complete streets are an essential tool to combat health inequities.”

In addition to health benefits, Complete Streets can boost the local economy by supporting local business districts and increasing property values. “Many municipal leaders see complete streets as an important contributor to quality of life in their communities,” said D.J. Wilson from the Mass Municipal Association. “They can encourage residents and visitors to shop locally, which help to attract and retain workplaces and employees.”

Learn more about the National Complete Streets Coalition’s rankings:
http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/best-complete-streets-policies-of-2015

Learn more about the MassDOT Complete Streets Funding Program: http://www.mass.gov/massdot/completestreets

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Vision Zero Boston and Pedestrian Fatalities Press Conference, 2/11/16

Vision Zero Boston and Pedestrian Fatalities Press Conference, 2/11/16

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Notes from WalkBoston Executive Director Wendy Landman’s remarks, City of Boston’s Press Conference 2/11/16, on Vision Zero Boston and Pedestrian Fatalities

Video of remarks on YouTube

The four people in Boston, and seven people in other Massachusetts communities who lost their lives in January, were doing the most natural, ordinary and necessary of things – walking in their own communities. We need to make such tragedies rare, not ordinary.

The Vision Zero approach to ending deaths from traffic crashes is based on making streets safer for everyone with a special focus on slowing down traffic speeds and improving street crossings.

WalkBoston is glad to be included in this press conference while at the same time working hard to make sure that we will not have to do this in years to come

Making Boston a safe place to walk is key to the City’s equitable access to opportunity, to long-term economic vitality, to fighting climate change and creating a resilient city, and to making Boston a great place to live, work and play.

We are pleased to be working with the City of Boston and state agencies on this very important issue.

I also want to thank and recognize our fellow advocates in the Vision Zero Coalition – we are all working together on this critical effort.

We urge the City to set aside the dollars needed to make both long and short term improvements.

Engaging with the advocacy community, the grassroots neighborhood organizations and Boston’s residents, workers and visitors is key to success in reducing pedestrian fatalities and injuries

The City’s planned 2016 Vision Zero actions to improve safety along Mass Ave and in Codman Square and to implement neighborhood slow zones in the Talbot-Norfolk Triangle and Stony Brook are great first steps – we look forward to seeing their implementation and working with the City to identify the subsequent actions.

WalkBoston has been a core member of the City’s Task Force, pushing hard to make sure that we know where crashes are happening and then figuring out how to make both immediate and longer term improvements to reduce the chances for future crashes in those places.

We are also excited to be starting a Safe Routes for Seniors project with the Elderly Commission under the City’s Age Friendly Boston initiative. Working with many city departments we will identify senior-friendly walking improvements in 3 target neighborhoods to be implemented over the next several years and also outlining policies and protocols that the City will follow to ensure that senior’s walking needs are well addressed.

The City’s launch of a new online tool to collect information to take pro-active steps to improve safety at locations where the public has noted dangerous conditions is an important step toward achieving Vision Zero – one that helps move beyond reaction and toward solutions.

Finally, we pledge to continue our advocacy for walking safety, to working with the City, and to engaging with many City residents to ensure that their voices are heard on this critical issue. Thank you.

City of Boston’s Vision Zero Task Force site: VisionZeroBoston.org 

Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition site: VisionZeroCoalition.org

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