Measuring Spatial Inequalities in Public Transportation Systems: Three key Perspectives

Abstract

For several decades, inequalities in public transportation systems have been of significant consideration to transport researchers and urban planners. Increasing concerns regarding the climate crisis, coupled with improved standardisation of public transit data, has led to a myriad of studies highlighting apparent disparities in transit service and infrastructure. However, research on transit inequalities typically focus on a singular urban mechanism. In this thesis, we present three perspectives, and their respective frameworks, that are crucial for assessing how disparities in public transit can be exhibited. We argue that, in order to develop a well-rounded understanding of inequalities in public transit infrastructure, one must consider how transit intersects with (a) disparities in residential-workplace dependencies, (b) experienced segregation, and (c) features of the physical environment. Focusing on cities in the United States of America (US), we analyse transit with respect to residential and employment landscapes, highlighting how housing and occupational disparities are exacerbated by transit service, further disadvantaging vulnerable communities. Then, we estimate experienced segregation in daily mobility patterns, underscoring the segregated nature of transit service in terms of mobility opportunity and empirical mobility patterns. Finally, we identify transit inequalities for neighbourhoods with similar physical environments, highlight how spatial characteristics elucidate the types of environment in which socioeconomic transit disparities arise. The presented frameworks emphasise how public transit heightens the inequalities that are present in housing landscapes, mobility patterns, and the built environment, ultimately providing a quantitative perspective on how US transit systems provide opportunities for fulfilling different types of mobility desires.