Barriers to Transportation and Well-Being in King County: An exploration of how subsidized public transportation could eliminate barriers to transportation and increase opportunities for improved well-being

Abstract

Barriers to transportation directly and indirectly influence individual and population health and well-being. One major barrier to transportation is the cost. King County Metro has created a fully subsidized public transit card, referred to as the “subsidized annual pass”, for qualified individuals to eliminate that barrier. This project examined the eligibility criteria and the administration of the program (for the purposes of this project, administration includes where customers can access the program and how it is promoted) to identify areas where these two could be changed to expand access to the program for those populations who are currently underserved or unserved by the existing criteria. This exploratory qualitative study utilized a survey and interviews, conducted with King County Metro’s organizational partners, to identify populations that are unserved or underserved by the current program, and potential changes that could help King County better serve them. The project findings support the growing literature on the relationship between transportation and poverty, transportation and race, and transportation and well-being. People earning low incomes, who were experiencing homelessness, reentering communities from the carceral system, do not have legal immigration status and were Black, Indigenous and other people of color, were most likely to be identified as in need of subsidized access to public transportation. This project provides recommendations on how to improve access to the subsidized annual pass, including three expansions: interagency collaboration, enrolling partners for the card, and eligibility criteria.