2023 BETTER MOBILITY PLATFORM

Everyone who calls Philadelphia “home” deserves a city that is connected, safe, and built for all to enjoy, regardless of income, race, age, or ability.

But what does it mean to be connected?

By living in a metropolitan area, you should be able to get to a grocery store, local business, primary and secondary schools, transit hubs serving work centers and universities, recreation centers, or your place of worship safely within 15 minutes. You should have a safe route to school and have the opportunity to choose whether or not you want to drive, walk, ride a bicycle, or take public transportation.

 

The 2023 Better Mobility Platform was crafted by the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia with the help of 9 organizations:

  • AARP Pennsylvania
  • Transit Forward Philadelphia
  • Clean Air Council
  • Feet First Philly
  • Parks and Rec Heroes Fund
  • Street Box PHL
  • East Coast Greenway Alliance
  • 5th Square
  • Fairmount Parks Conservancy

Our physical environment has the opportunity to bring us together, but too often it divides us.

In 2022, 125 Philadelphians were killed in motor vehicle crashes.

Philadelphia’s per capita traffic fatality rate is higher than Chicago, Washington DC and New York City. And fatal and serious injury crashes are three times more likely to occur in areas of the city where most residents are living on low incomes and 30% more likely to occur in areas of the city where most residents are people of color. Eliminating traffic deaths will meaningfully benefit communities of color and low income that currently bear the burden of this epidemic both in terms of improved safe streets and concurrent crime reduction.

We envision Philadelphia as a city where traffic deaths are a thing of the past and unacceptable ever in the future. 

In 2020, Philadelphia adopted an Age Friendly, Livable City for All Communities Action Plan that encompasses many transportation issues that are important especially for multi-generational households. The next mayor should use that Plan and this Platform to guide transportation-related policies.

GOALS FOR THE NEXT MAYOR

We propose four high level goals for the next mayor around this vision. We hope that candidates not only use these suggestions during their campaigns, but take the necessary steps to see them through once in office. We hope the next mayor adopts these goals to guide its administration’s policies and legislative initiatives:

  1. Reduce annual traffic deaths by half by 2026
  2. Motivate 2 out of every 3 Philadelphians to bike, walk, or take transit to get around
  3. Reimagine and redesign streets to prioritize human life, public health, and community
  4. Provide every resident with access to safe streets and sidewalks to get to school or work, to play, and to enjoy Philadelphia and its great neighborhoods

Read more here: 2023 Better Mobility Platform PDF

We and AARP-Pennsylvania released a questionnaire to all mayoral candidates asking for their stances on the set of policy recommendations laid out in the 2023 Better Mobility Platform. Take a look at what the candidates had to say:

2023 BETTER MOBILITY PLATFORM CRAFTED BY: 

ENDORSED BY: 

Mantua Civic Association, Cobbs Creek Neighbors, Walnut Hill Community Association

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