A.3 DRAFT Policy Proposal

Expanding Accessible Transit in Baltimore’s Westside – A MultimodalMulti-Modal Transportation Solution Your Name Subject and Section Professor’s Name November 5, 2024 Executive Summary Westside area of Baltimore is challenged with transportation issues that result from singularly car-oriented city design, with inadequate access to affordable, efficient, and available transportation for residents. This paper provides a detailed recommended solution to this problem, using an enhanced bus transit system, bike share, and affordable ride-hailing. This proposed model targets some limitations in transit, particularly to Baltimore, by formulating grounded theories that complement service delivery to hardworking and low-wage earners who rely on transit. Hence, this approach seeks to foster greater efficiency in transit systems through efforts that would enhance the reliability of non-private transport, enhance transit for excluded populations, learn from successful cases from other world cities, and provide a wide range of mobility options. It will be a helpful approach to solving the congestion problem on Baltimore's Westside, open better access to vital services, and promote economic opportunities and a reliable public transit option for carless citizens. For instance, Farkas (2007) established that Baltimore was historically highly car-oriented, implying that it has produced significant transportation injustices and mobility limitations for low-wage residents. This proposal meets those needs by coupling the factors of new and more extensive public transportation with bike-share and ride-share services to make it possible to decrease car usage while still having access to essential services. This approach relates to prior studies on Baltimore's transportation requirements (Plano et al., 2015; Stein et al., 2017) to further contextualize the proposal to Baltimore’s requirement, with participants from the Westside community in mind because transit needs are most keenly felt here. The current business proposal is a flexible, evidence-based response to the state of Baltimores’ transit that offers both novel approaches to mobility and investment in accessibility to help the transit system move toward a sustainable, equitable future. Market Analysis The transportation system in Baltimore is influenced by a set of deeply ingrained problems that, over time, have supported a car-oriented system that ultimately resulted in traffic jams, pollution, and lack of equal access to transit for people without personal cars (Farkas, 2007). While progress has been made in developing better public transportation routes over the past few years – including MTA's BaltimoreLink – large city areas are still poorly served. Transit gaps funding, which states that specific gaps are underfunded, is detrimental to low-income residents and particularly the students, as revealed by Stein et al. (2017), more so to students since they are forced to undertake long distances in assuming their public transit, thus affect school attendance and performance. Stein et al.'s (2017) recent research reveals the challenge that lurks in HS students' movement patterns. The vast majority travel a complex route with scarce direct access to school, which raises the probability of truancy and lateness. The strengths of BaltimoreLink have been in boosting service reliability and connectivity. However, weaknesses still exist in service frequency and coverage, including the fact that Westside communities still depend on poorly coordinated routes and service patterns that do not bring them to jobs, school, and other needed services on a consistent and timely basis (Stein et al., 2017). The next consideration covers the city's transport difficulties for low-income earners who do not own personal cars. Plano et al. (2015) also noted that Baltimore has central transit deserts, lacking good access to employment opportunities and healthy food due to high transit supply. Such findings indicate that Baltimore's current transport network lacks the appropriate infrastructure for its vulnerable user groups, especially those in impoverished communities with poor car access. It should be noted that BaltimoreLink introduced such advances as dedicated bus lanes and usable transfer stops. However, it does not provide for the comprehensive multiform transit needs of communities like Westside, where most people depend on public transportation and still face transport issues (Plano et al., 2015). Equity concerns about bike-share are also observed for low-income people, people of color, and women. The authors of the article Grasso et al., 2020 also mention that Baltimore's bike-share system has failed to meet the needs of the above groups with several barriers, including affordability as well as safety. Specifically, Grasso et al. (2020) identified that BM steer clear of bike-share systems because they do not feel safe on the roads, or they cannot afford the dockless system, or the majority of them lack awareness about the system. Towards this, the plan in this proposal for adding bike-share in Baltimore's Westside will help overcome these transportation barriers by enhancing the affordable, community-oriented bike-share that will better suit the transport needs of the marginalized residents. Targeted Demographic Our identified audience encompasses the West Side of Baltimore, with poor people who frequently rely on public transport, as some areas are experiencing high usage of this mode of transport. Plano et al. (2015) estimate that 11% of households in Baltimore do not own a car; the incidence is even higher in parts of Westside, where owning a car is beyond the means of many families. There is almost complete absence of private cars, which means people, including job seekers, students, patients, and those seeking food, rely on public transport. The Westside population WE will target in this project includes students, working-class employees, and senior citizens who must commute to access necessities and opportunities within the community. By extending Stein et al.'s (2017) study, the ineffectiveness of transport causes attendees – High school learners in Baltimore Westside – to miss classes. Such students usually spend most of their time moving from one place to another, primarily irregular and lengthy movements, which can make them late, hence their performance dropping. Music non-SWA designations of new transportation access in Westside will enhance education success by helping reduce truancy and delivering students closer to school. The employment access situation of the working-age population in Westside is equally unenviable, especially for those in the low-income earning group. Most of the population still lacks adequate transit means, and the existing routes are circuitous, or else most must resort to expensive ride-sharing (Archer, 2020). This proposal is to introduce new public transportation possibilities and bike-share, improving the number of residents' access to jobs and decreasing time and transportation costs. Furthermore, more elderly residents may have difficulty with mobility, and increased affordable on-demand transportation would be available for appointments and essential services. Plan Business Model This proposal introduces a novel multi-modal transportation business model for actioning Baltimore's Westside transportation plan. It focuses on upgrading public transport, equity for bike-sharing, and affordable ride-hailing. This model has b...