Prevalence of Municipal-Level Policies Dedicated to Transportation That Consider Food Access

Abstract

Introduction Local governments can address access to healthy food and transportation through policy and planning. This study is the first to examine municipal-level transportation supports for food access. Methods We used a nationally representative sample of US municipalities with 1,000 or more persons from the 2014 National Survey of Community-Based Policy and Environmental Supports for Healthy Eating and Active Living (N = 2,029) to assess 3 outcomes: public transit availability, consideration of food access in transportation planning, and presence of demand-responsive transportation (DRT). We used χ 2 tests to compare prevalences by municipal characteristics including population size, rurality, census region, median educational attainment, poverty prevalence, racial and ethnic population distribution, and low-income low-access to food (LILA) status. Results Among municipalities, 33.7% reported no public transit and 14.8% reported having DRT. Both public transit and DRT differed by population size (both P < .001) and census region (both P < .001) and were least commonly reported among municipalities with populations less than 2,500 (46.9% without public transit; 6.6% with DRT) and in the South (40.0% without public transit; 11.1% with DRT). Of those with public transit, 33.8% considered food access in transportation planning; this was more common with greater population size (55.9% among municipalities of ≥50,000 persons vs 16.8% among municipalities of <2,500 persons; P < .001), in the West (43.1% vs 26.8% in the Northeast, 33.7% in the Midwest, 32.2% in the South; P = .003), and municipalities with 20% or more of the population living below federal poverty guidelines (37.4% vs 32.2% among municipalities with less than 20% living in poverty; P = .07). Conclusion Results suggest that opportunities exist to improve food access through transportation, especially in smaller and Southern communities, which may improve diet quality and reduce chronic disease.

Food insecurity and sleep health by race/ethnicity in the United States

“…Since previous studies have reported individuals living in rural and poor areas have limited access to food due to transportation (56) , legislation can be used to improve transportation to help close the gap in food security. For example, an affordable and publicly run Grocery Bus line that was assimilated into the regular transit system in Austin, Texas intentionally connected a low-income Latinx community with insufficient transportation limiting supermarket access (56) . Finally, policies mitigating climate change may also help improve food security status (47) .…”

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“…In addition, municipal and regional transportation policies that improve multimodal access to healthy food are needed to improve access for individuals and families who have limited access to a private automobile (Swayne and Lowery 2021). Some examples of this might include explicit consideration of food access when determining public transit routes and schedules, and the provision of community vans or shuttle buses to link residents directly to food outlets (Dumas et al 2021). Previous survey work among U.S. municipalities has found that less than 15% of cities offer community vans and/ or shuttle buses, and less than 40% of cities with public transit considered food access when route planning (Dumas et al 2021).…”

“…Some examples of this might include explicit consideration of food access when determining public transit routes and schedules, and the provision of community vans or shuttle buses to link residents directly to food outlets (Dumas et al 2021). Previous survey work among U.S. municipalities has found that less than 15% of cities offer community vans and/ or shuttle buses, and less than 40% of cities with public transit considered food access when route planning (Dumas et al 2021). While these results suggest scant attention to food access in the context of transportation planning and provision, these approaches can and should be implemented by local government and transportation officials to support access to healthy food (Dumas et al 2021).…”

“…Previous survey work among U.S. municipalities has found that less than 15% of cities offer community vans and/ or shuttle buses, and less than 40% of cities with public transit considered food access when route planning (Dumas et al 2021). While these results suggest scant attention to food access in the context of transportation planning and provision, these approaches can and should be implemented by local government and transportation officials to support access to healthy food (Dumas et al 2021). Where robust public transportation networks already exist to link residents to food outlets, opportunities may exist to increase ridership through improvements to the transit network.…”