Low-Income Workers Cut Off From New Jobs By Lack Of Public Transit: Study

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/06/transit-cuts-costing-work_n_871032.html

NEW YORK -- The people are in one place, many of the new jobs in another, according to a recent report.

"Missed Opportunity: Transit and Jobs In Metropolitan America," a May report from the Brookings Institute, found that nearly 70 percent of people in large metropolitan areas live near some form of public transit. And despite transit route coverage varying from region to region, one rule held true: it's city dwellers with low incomes that have the best access to public transportation. Suburban communities occupied by middle-income and low-income families have the least access.

That would seem to benefit city-dwellers. But there's a problem.

Employment decentralization is increasing, and many new jobs -- whether in retail, health care, educational services or manufacturing -- are located in suburban and even further-flung exurban neighborhoods, according to the report. The task of getting to newly-created jobs has grown more difficult for low income, public transportation-dependent workers.

More at the link --

I reviewed this at work. The area incorporating New York City stretched all the way to Eastern Pennsylvania; no way you could cover that adequately. If you take the Manhattan CBD alone, transit carries 85% of peak period work trips.