COMMUNITY FOOD ENVIRONMENT

ENACT STRATEGY: Transportation
Improve transportation options to supermarkets and other large food outlets

The location and accessibility of supermarkets and other large food outlets impact the eating patterns of a community. Transportation issues remain a top barrier of accessibility to healthy foods. By improving transportation options to and from supermarkets, a community's access to healthy foods can be greatly improved. Transportation enhancements can include public transit improvements as well as initiating supermarket shuttle services. Supermarket shuttle services in particular have been shown to be feasible in low-income and transit dependent areas, and the stores offering shuttle services have boasted increased revenues as a result.

Characteristics of transportation strategies:

• Low or no cost store initiated van services for customers from the store to the home;
• Store initiated van services with a pick-up and drop-off at home;
• Enhanced transit programs including alternate or added bus routes to increase access to food retailers.
• Joint ventures between grocery stores and government or a local non-profit organization to collaboratively fund the shuttle;operation, and to increase community participation and input
• Develop mass transit, car-sharing and bike-sharing programs to support alternative and affordable modes of transportation to stores;
• Store-operated shuttle services operate in and around senior citizen complexes, communities with senior population, and retirement communities.

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Programs

Homeward Bound

Homeward Bound: Food-Related Transportation Strategies in Low-Income and Transit Dependent Communities examines fifteen examples of programs providing transportation services to increase access to food sources.

Transportation and Food:  The Importance of Access

This policy brief from the Center for Food and Justice, Urban and Environmental Policy Institute highlights innovative food transportation projects that build bridges between family farmers, food retailers and consumers.

Alternative Transportation Modes

This factsheet from the Food Trust's Green Supermarket/Grocery Initiative encourages retailers to consider sustainable transportation modes such as mass transit, car-sharing and bike-sharing programs that will connect underserved residents and patrons to sustainable food retail establishments.

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Evidence Base

Supermarket Shuttle Program

Supermarket Shuttle Program: A Feasibility Study for Supermarkets Located in Low-Income, Transit-Dependent, Urban Neighborhoods in California is a report from the UC Davis Center for Advanced Studies in Nutrition and Social Marketing. Authors Mohan and Cassady discuss the financial pros and cons of operating a supermarket shuttle program for storeowners in California's low-income communities. Among their findings, shuttle programs increase customer loyalty, win new customers and reduce cost from lost shopping carts.

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