How transportation impacts health in San Francisco

Lack of transportation is a key driver behind people missing or outright skipping medical appointments.

Driving the news: More than one in five U.S. adults without access to a vehicle or public transportation missed or skipped a medical appointment last year, according to a report by the Urban Institute.

Why it matters: Transportation is a key social driver of health equity.

• While telehealth has reduced some transportation barriers, it's not accessible to all and can't replace in-person care for all medical needs, Axios' Adriel Bettelheim reports.

What they found: In the San Francisco Bay Area, 12.1% of households don't have access to a vehicle — and that number is even higher for people of color, per the National Equity Atlas.

• About 14% of San Francisco households with a head of household who is a person of color don't have access to a vehicle.

Zoom in: San Francisco's transportation agency plans to launch "dynamic shuttles" in Bayview-Hunters Point as part of a pilot program set to run from January 2024 to June 2026.

• The community shuttle program is designed to enable Bayview residents to hail rides between a set service area to improve mobility options in the area.
• Of note: The Bayview is more than 25% Black, the largest population of Black people in the city, according to an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data by the San Francisco Standard.

Zoom out: Nationwide, 21% of adults without access to a vehicle or public transit said they went without needed medical care in 2022.

• Though 91% of adults reported they had access to a vehicle, the figure was substantially lower for Black adults (81%), those with low family incomes (78%) or a disability (83%) and for individuals with public health insurance (79%) or no coverage (83%).

The big picture: A study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found as much as 40% of a person's health can be attributed to socioeconomic factors like education, employment and transportation availability.