Project Summary
Traffic congestion is a problem in all of California’s major cities. In San Francisco, congestion worsened considerably between 2010 and 2016, during which vehicle hours of delay within the City of San Francisco increased 66%. This was a period of significant economic growth, with 160,000 additional jobs, 70,000 new residents, and 5,700 new ridehailing vehicles. The region has also been plagued by significant increases to the costs of living. Transportation challenges can exacerbate economic inequities for residents, and place increased burdens on low-income households struggling to meet rising costs. In an effort to address both equity issues and traffic congestion, the San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFCTA) is currently updating the San Francisco Mobility, Access, and Pricing Study, originally published in 2010. The research project will assist SFCTA in addressing the concern that pricing will result in a greater burden placed on low-income households and exacerbate equity issues in the region. The research will begin with a literature review that identifies the many strategies to address both the demand and supply side of this concern, including variable fees for income groups, spending allowances for targeted populations, and permits for residents living inside a cordon. This review will include case studies that will address the effects on disadvantaged communities and low-income residents in cities that have already implemented congestion pricing. The analysis component of this research project will apply equity metrics identified in the literature review to compare modeling outputs from SFCTA’s regional travel demand model. This analysis will evaluate three types of equity impacts: income equity, geographic equity, and modal equity.