Transportation and the social determinants of health

A 2017 report by the American Hospital Association estimated that more than 3.6 million people do not obtain medical care each year due to transportation issues. A 2019 Kaiser Permanente report found that, beyond providing healthcare access, reliable transportation fills a social need that, if unmet, threatens to deteriorate mental and physical health.

Thus, transportation improvements for the 2023 CHIP focus mainly on transit services and their ability to provide District residents, both urban and rural, with reliable, efficient, and accessible accommodations to healthcare providers and everyday activity centers.

Workgroup Partners: CAT, Jaunt, UTS, Albemarle Board of Supervisors, Piedmont Mobility Alliance, Charlottesville Area Alliance, and Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission.

Overview of Objectives: Accessibility, bus stop infrastructure, route coverage, reliability, and frequency of service. Work is beginning in areas such as GPS app integration, microtransit, scheduling improvements for Jaunt, transportation support to and from District hospitals, and bus shelter design.

CHIP Goals + Objectives
Goal	Objective	Convenor	Contributor
Improve all transit infrastructure, including accessibility, bus stop infrastructure, route coverage, reliability, and frequency of public transportation system and Jaunt	Obtain approved contract to allow installation of mobility accessible, age-friendly bus shelters where needed	Charlottesville Area Transit (CAT)	Albemarle Board of Supervisors (Diantha McKeel) VDOT
	Produce governance study for Regional Transit Authority that could act as umbrella agency to fund transit improvements	Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission
	Improve infrastructure for getting patients to and from health system hospitals, providers, and everyday activity centers	BRHD	CAT Jaunt University Transit Service (UTS)
	Improve scheduling service for Jaunt	Jaunt	Jaunt
	Jaunt locality service is sufficient for residents’ needs	Jaunt	Jaunt
	Expand GPS tracking app availability for riders	Jaunt	CAT Jaunt UTS
	Initiate a sustainable Riders Advisory Group	Charlottesville Area Alliance
	Begin to implement microtransit	CAT	CAT Jaunt
Develop a robust rideshare network and voucher system for patients and clients	Develop a Mobility Management Program to include a one-call center	Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission

FEATURED PROGRESS: As of April 2023 Jaunt approved its Transit Development Plan this February and is actively instituting improvements in passenger scheduling and its phone reservation system throughout this spring.

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