A new report from the Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) has found that Californians want their state to invest in safer, greener, and more efficient transportation systems.
The report, Investing in California’s Transportation Future: Public Opinion on Critical Need, comes from an online survey collected from a representative sample of 3,574 Californian adults who completed the survey prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Respondents sent a crystal-clear message about their desire for safer and better maintained transportation options,” Dr. Asha Weinstein Agrawal, one of the study’s authors and Director of MTI’s National Transportation Finance Center, said.
More than three-quarters of the respondents (78 percent) rated improved maintenance on roads and highways as “very important.” Nearly as many (75 percent) rated reducing crashes and improving safety as a priority.
Just over half of the respondents put making getting around without driving more convenient a priority, throwing support behind frequent public transit service, discounted fares for low-income Californians, and building bike paths as ways to achieve that goal.
According to the report, Californians also want to see changes to the transportation system to improve the environment. More than half (58 percent) responded that it was “very important” to reduce emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases. Creating new electric vehicle charging stations to achieve that received medium to high support.
“These findings held across the state and among different types of people,” study co-author Dr. Hilary Nixon said.