University of Michigan dashboard tracks public transit accessibility for people with disabilities

A new national database developed at the University of Michigan shows that none of the top 99 federally funded public transportation systems in the United States are easy for people with disabilities to use in four key areas of accommodation and accessibility.

Official response and confirmed impact

The U-M Public Transit Accessibility Dashboard provides data that communities can use to identify barriers and build on strengths to make buses, trains and other forms of fixed-route public transit accessible to everyone.

Data documenting the accessibility of U.S. public transit systems has been sparse, not integrated nationally and rarely communicated in plain language, said Erica Twardzik, assistant professor at the U-M School of Kinesiology and director of the Center for Inclusive Mobility Environments.

Twardzik, first author of the study behind the project, said the dashboard aims to fill that gap.

It evaluates accessibility among 99 U.S. public transit systems spanning 85 cities in the key areas of 1) adjacency (transit is nearby and can reach many destinations), 2) availability (frequency of public transit to meet demand), 3) affordability (average fare revenue per trip) and 4) acceptability (comfortable with the provider).