Chattanooga’s access to mass transit ranks last among the nation’s top 100 metropolitan areas in a report released Thursday by the Brookings Institution.
Neighboring cities Nashville and Knoxville also ranked near the bottom of the list, at 93rd and 98th, respectively, while residents of Honolulu have the best access to mass transit in the country, the think tank reported.
The two-year study gave CARTA high marks for providing access to jobs and for its service frequency, but rated geographical coverage for metro residents the worst of the group.
According to Brookings, mass transit service in the Chattanooga metro area reaches 53 percent of low-income residents, just 20 percent of those in the middle income bracket and a mere 3.7 percent of high-income Chattanoogans.
On average, about 22.5 percent of metro Chattanooga residents live within three-quarters of a mile of a bus route.