The Volpe Center supported Phase I (Tier 1) of the Pacific Southwest Region of the Forest Service-led CAR-LESS California project by providing the identification and GIS mapping of neighborhoods of underserved populations in California. The Forest Service initiated the project to make sure that federal land management agency efforts in California not only move toward conserving precious public land resources, but also address the barriers that California's underserved populations face in pursuing their outdoor-recreation preferences.

Phase I began by focusing on the Bay Area and strategically moved out to other parts of central California. Phase II will encompass alternative transportation systems of southern California and Phase III will focus on northern California. The first step (Tier 1) within each Phase will be to map existing conditions, identify potential regional transit networks, and make recommendations for Tier 2. Tier 2 will include a detailed look at individual corridors linking communities and recreation destinations. Tier 2 will also identify locations for further development and address implementation phasing. Tier 3 will include the site design and implementation for both origin and destination station areas and corridors as identified and prioritized in Tier 2.