In its first round of Welfare to Work (WtW) competitive grants, the Department of Labor awarded $3 million to the Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development for a regional public transportation program for the Chicago area. The proposal was submitted on behalf of the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), which operates bus and rail service in the city of Chicago and 38 suburbs, and Pace, which operates the suburban bus service in the region. The service area for the program includes the following counties: Cook, Chicago, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will. The program consists of three components, CTA/Pace 30-day passes, a regional vanpool program, and train-the-trainer workshops in which job developers and caseworkers learn about public transportation options in the region. Program participants are Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) clients who are new to or reentering the workforce. The TANF population, like the general population, is diverse. However, there are common challenges that must be overcome by many of the people who qualify for the regional program. CTA and Pace automated fare collection equipment data were used to examine ridership of WtW passes compared with the ridership of regular 30-day passes.
The impact of the welfare-to-work (WtW) regional public transportation program on participants in Chicago, Illinois, is reviewed 3 years after an initial study. The regional transportation program provided free transit passes and vanpool services to participants during their first 6 months of employment and training on regional transit options for job developers. WtW participants' travel patterns were noted, social service contractors were interviewed, and Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) clients were examined. In 2000, pass use for WtW participants and regular 30-day pass users was determined to be almost identical because of the strong economy of the late 1990s. Three years later, travel patterns suggested that participants were beginning to find employment farther from home, many in the job-rich O'Hare Airport corridor, and that the costs and benefits of sending low-income workers to distant work locations needed to be assessed. Although providing fare subsidies that allow low-income workers to take advantage of existing infrastructure may be helpful, transportation solutions probably will not be enough to make a meaningful and sustained impact. The regional transportation program illustrates the need for holistic approaches to social policy. The disproportionate level of transit dependency, longer travel times, and significantly higher use of public transit in many of the Chicago communities that have the highest numbers of TANF clients than in the city as a whole point to a serious need for affordable housing near job centers in the Chicago region.
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