Active Transit Toolkit

Transportation impacts every aspect of our lives, from getting groceries to getting to work on time. Our ability to get around is intertwined with our quality of life, our health, our economic opportunities and our environment. And our transportation systems shape our cities and towns - from streets built for cars and trucks to friendly, walkable places that invite us to meet our neighbors.Active transit is transportation infrastructure that makes life better for people, places, and the environment. It includes non-car based transportation options such as walking, biking or taking public transportation, and the infrastructure that makes it safer and easier to opt into these activities.At the root of active transit is transportation equity: the simple but radical idea that every person has a right to get around efficiently and safely in the place they live. The negative costs of a transportation system centered around cars has long fallen most heavily on low-income and BIPOC communities, from the destruction of neighborhoods for highway construction, to the health impacts of air pollution created by gridlock traffic, to the disproportionate number of pedestrian injuries and deaths in communities of color.Reducing our communities' reliance on cars, and making our streets safer for those who walk, bike, and take transit, is a critical step in reducing our greenhouse gas emissions and combatting climate collapse. It is also the key to a more joyful, more connected community: research has found that people who walk, take transit, or ride a bike to work are happier than those who drive.