What do Lincoln, Nebraska and New York City have in common? Turns out they’re both on the Natural Resource Defense Council’s list of “America’s Smartest Regions for Transportation.”

The study, created in collaboration with the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT), compares and profiles U.S. regions based on public transit availability, “use and cost; household automobile ownership and use; and innovative, sustainable transportation programs,” eventually coming up with the 15 U.S. metro regions with the most innovative transportation systems regardless of size.

Because of the set up, bigger cities like Boston or New York, get the same love as smaller cities like Lincoln, Boulder, Colorado or Yolo County, California.

“It was crucial to first figure out the scope and focus of the transportation study, which raises the perennial, fundamental issue of whether to compare cities or regions,” explains Kaid Benfield, director of NRDC’s Sustainable Communities & Smart Growth and a Smarter Cities project advisor. “Regional data often gives a truer indication of the environment of a place than jurisdictional boundaries as it encompasses commuters traveling both in dense urban city centers and in surrounding suburbs. Yet municipalities and cities mostly act separately as instruments of policy, innovate more and are inherently more sustainable and ‘smarter’.”

Cities with essential services nearby or that are accessible by many transportation modes – lower transportation costs for residents, said Scott Bernstein, president of the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT). “Cities and regions that foster compact, walkable, transit-rich communities can reduce reliance on automobiles and help lower at least one expense for households struggling to get by in the current economy.”

Here are some neat little highlights from the study:

* About 98 percent of Jersey City, New Jersey residents live within a half mile of public transit access; only 60 percent of own or have access to a car.

* In downtown Boston, around 65 percent of trips during peak hours are non-motorized due, in large part, to the city’s Complete Streets initiative, launched in 2009, to create streets that integrate pedestrians, cyclists and public transit with motorists.

* Philadelphia has selectively expanded the city’s public transit system in certain neighborhoods to increase residents’ access to fresh food.

* Boulder, Colorado has built paved pathways along Boulder Creek that allow walkers and bikers to travel up to 52 miles without ever having to cross traffic.

* Washington DC’s Capital Bikeshare program has made more than 1,100 bikes available for pick up at solar-powered docking stations throughout DC and Arlington County

* In Lincoln, Nebraska, low-income riders pay a mere $7.50 for unlimited bus rides all month long, while households in that city drive the least—on average 16,800 miles per year—of any metropolitan region in the country with populations less than 250,000.

* New York has the highest percentage of transit users in the nation (with the next closest being San Francisco, at less than 20 percent)

* Chicago wants to be electric-vehicle-ready by 2012, with 280 electric vehicle charging stations throughout Chicago and its surrounding suburbs.

* 90 percent of the residents in Champaign-Urbana, Ill. live within a quarter mile of a weekday bus route.

* 91 percent of households in Yolo, California have access to transit that in any other metropolitan region with a population of less than 250,000.

Here’s the complete list of the 15 metro regions in the U.S. for transportation innovation:

Large (population > 1 million)

Boston, MA/NH

Chicago, IL

New York, NY

Portland, OR

Philadelphia, PA/NJ

San Francisco, CA

Washington, DC/MD/VA/WV

Medium (pop. between 250,000 – 1 million)

Boulder-Longmont, CO

Honolulu, HI

Jersey City, NJ

New Haven, CT

Small (pop. < 250,000)

Bremerton, WA

Champaign-Urbana, IL

Lincoln, NE

Yolo, CA