01660483

Component

https://doi.org/10.1177/0361198118796738

This paper addresses academic discourse that critiques urban rail transit projects for their regressive impacts on the poor and proposes bus funding as a more equitable investment for urban transit agencies. The author analyzed data from the 2012 California Household Travel Survey on transit trips in Los Angeles County. The author cross-tabulated data on the modal breakdown of transit trips by household income category and on the breakdown of household income associated with trips by bus and rail transit modes. The author also comparatively evaluated the speed of trips (as a ratio of miles per hour) taken by rail and by bus by low-income households in the county. The author found convincing evidence that, on average, trips low-income households made by rail transit covered a greater distance per hour than trips taken by bus transit, but that trips made on the county’s bus rapid transit services with dedicated rights-of-way had a higher mean speed than those taken by rail. Moreover, the mode and income cross-tabulations indicate that rail transit projects only partially serve low-income households’ travel needs. To the extent that equitable transit planning entails minimizing the disparities in access, both rail and bus rapid transit projects can advance social justice if they are targeted at corridors where they can serve travel demand by low-income, transit dependent households.

18-06719

English

pp 11-20

2018-12

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board

Print

Figures (2) ; References (37) ; Tables (6)

Bus rapid transit; Households; Low income groups; Rail transit; Transportation disadvantaged persons; Travel surveys; Urban transit

California Household Travel Survey

Los Angeles County (California)

Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Society

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Jan 8 2018 11:44AM

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