M3.5 Transportation

Living in a city like Los Angeles my whole life, I have always seen transportation as an environmental and health issue. In large cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco, the amount of people commuting every day makes it difficult for individuals to easily commute by foot or use bicycles. Even though, Los Angeles has become a more bike-friendly city, the amount of automobiles every day makes you question the risks of biking. In the past years, Los Angeles has improved their metro system by creating more accessible bus lines and extending their metro rail system. Even with the increased access to public transportation, the air quality in Los Angeles is very poor. Different pollutants in the air create various health problems in the population.

I now live in the City of Davis, which is extremely different than Los Angeles. Every morning, I used to feel the fresh air on my face as I rode my bike to school. Compare to Davis, the main mode of transportation is a bicycle. Davis, being a college town, most of its habitats either use public transportation, a bicycle, or they walk. This affects the air quality in the City, as its pollutants are not mainly from automobiles.

The Transportation Health Tool gave the city of Davis a high score. The number of transit trips per capita was 49.2, scoring in the 95th percentile. The number of vehicle miles per capita was 14, scoring in the 90th percentile. Using public transportation, walking, or using a bike to commute to places, increase one's physical activity. In order to address health issues, cities should create more access to public transportation and make streets safer for individuals to walk or bike as part of their commute.