For many Omaha residents, transportation means pulling a car out of a driveway and spending about 15 minutes swerving be­tween potholes to reach a destina­tion – maybe 30 minutes when fac­ing construction or congestion.

The metropolitan area’s transit system is more complex than that, though. Walking, biking, public buses, ride sharing apps and, as of this week, electric scooters play a role in moving people around the city, and that motion is critical to the area’s economic vitality.

Vibrant, creative places don’t provide as much value if they are isolated from the community.

“Transportation is a component of human rights,” said Katharine Eagan Kelleman, a public trans­portation advocate and CEO of the Port Authority of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. “If you can’t get to everything in your commu­nity, what’s the point?”

Transportation can be a barrier for some people to holding a job, or trading up for a better one. For companies, it can limit access to workforce and longer commutes can drive away talented workers.

The ways transportation can influence broader issues was on full display last Wednesday at the Heartland 2050 Summit at the downtown Hilton Omaha hotel.

Heartland 2050 is a MAPA ini­tiative to bring stakeholders to­gether to work toward a common vision for the future of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area. Its “Close the Gap” project seeks to align the area’s efforts on transpor­tation and land use to address ac­cess to education and employment, attract and retain more local talent, reduce racial and ethnic disparities, bring together neighborhoods and corridors that are difficult to reach without a vehicle and promote op­tions for multi-modal transporta­tion, which includes walking, bik­ing and public transportation.

“If we could get people to where we want them to be to live, work and play, we would be a much more successful region,” said Karna Loewenstein, Heartland 2050 proj­ect coordinator.

Last week’s summit, “Connecting People to Life: Transit in a New Light,” featured a keynote address by Kelleman and included demos of the new scooters approved by the City of Omaha for use in certain areas, and they learned about in­vestments made by Metro Transit, including its forthcoming rapid bus transit on Dodge Street. They also explored the importance of trans­portation in relation to food deserts, sustainability, employment issues and homelessness. 

Kelleman asked a panel repre­senting local organizations that interact with public transit users to describe what a perfect system would look like if they could wave a magic wand and make substantial change happen.

Abbie Kretz, a community orga­nizer at Heartland Workers Center, said the goal should be to find a so­lution that’s possible and then make those changes reality.

“It’s great to have these talks, but how can we move it forward in an approachable way?” Kretz asked. “That’s my magic wand – so that it’s actually is doable.”

Keith Station, director of business relations at Heartland Workforce Solutions, said a great system would be something that would be used throughout the ar­ea’s varied weather patterns – in extreme temperatures, snow, rain and other inclement conditions. 

The area’s transit system could use more connections to Council Bluffs and the communities of Sarpy County, allowing access to jobs and other resources lo­cated in Omaha and elsewhere in the area. Karen Gibler, president of the Sarpy County Chamber of Commerce, said jobs are available but they are difficult to access for workers without reliable vehicles.

“We’re a very auto-centric com­munity,” Gibler said. “We really need to change that mindset.”

The panel suggested that if Council Bluffs can successfully partner with Google to bring wire­less internet accessibility across the city, then significant improvements to the area’s transit system should be possible, too.

“That’s what transportation needs,” said Jaymes Sime, execu­tive director of the Micah House shelter in Council Bluffs. 

Sime added that he believes the community needs to look 15 years into the future and ask what a high quality transit system will look like – not simply what such a system looks like in 2019.

“What do we need to be do­ing? What’s that technology look like? Hopefully, it’s beyond scoot­ers, holy smokes,” Sime said. “Sometimes when you get into a sufficiency mindset, you only bring yourself up to today. We also need to have that future conversation, because we can’t trade one for an­other.”

Find video from the summit at facebook.com/heartland2050. For more information on Heartland 2050, visit heartland2050.org.