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A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
Assessing social equity in distance based transit fares using a model of travel behavior
Highlights A spatial model of trip starts and distance travelled is used to assess differential impacts in distance based fares. Distance based fares are found to be socially progressive. They reduce fares for low-income and minority travelers, and increase fares for affluent riders. Hispanic and non-white travelers in the cities surrounding Salt Lake City where transit fares are predicted to increase. The social sustainability of distance based fares are in large part driven by the spatial social structure of the region.
Abstract The goal of this study is to develop and apply a new method for assessing social equity impacts of distance-based public transit fares. Shifting to a distance-based fare structure can disproportionately favor or penalize different subgroups of a population based on variations in settlement patterns, travel needs, and most importantly, transit use. According to federal law, such disparities must be evaluated by the transit agency, but the area-based techniques identified by the Federal Transit Authority for assessing discrimination fail to account for disparities in distances travelled by transit users. This means that transit agencies currently lack guidelines for assessing the social equity impacts of replacing flat fare with distance-based fare structures. Our solution is to incorporate a joint ordinal/continuous model of trip generation and distance travelled into a GIS Decision Support System. The system enables a transit planner to visualize and compare distance travelled and transit-cost maps for different population profiles and fare structures. We apply the method to a case study in the Wasatch Front, Utah, where the Utah Transit Authority is exploring a switch to a distance-based fare structure. The analysis reveals that overall distance-based fares benefit low-income, elderly, and non-white populations. However, the effect is geographically uneven, and may be negative for members of these groups living on the urban fringe.
Assessing social equity in distance based transit fares using a model of travel behavior
Highlights A spatial model of trip starts and distance travelled is used to assess differential impacts in distance based fares. Distance based fares are found to be socially progressive. They reduce fares for low-income and minority travelers, and increase fares for affluent riders. Hispanic and non-white travelers in the cities surrounding Salt Lake City where transit fares are predicted to increase. The social sustainability of distance based fares are in large part driven by the spatial social structure of the region.
Abstract The goal of this study is to develop and apply a new method for assessing social equity impacts of distance-based public transit fares. Shifting to a distance-based fare structure can disproportionately favor or penalize different subgroups of a population based on variations in settlement patterns, travel needs, and most importantly, transit use. According to federal law, such disparities must be evaluated by the transit agency, but the area-based techniques identified by the Federal Transit Authority for assessing discrimination fail to account for disparities in distances travelled by transit users. This means that transit agencies currently lack guidelines for assessing the social equity impacts of replacing flat fare with distance-based fare structures. Our solution is to incorporate a joint ordinal/continuous model of trip generation and distance travelled into a GIS Decision Support System. The system enables a transit planner to visualize and compare distance travelled and transit-cost maps for different population profiles and fare structures. We apply the method to a case study in the Wasatch Front, Utah, where the Utah Transit Authority is exploring a switch to a distance-based fare structure. The analysis reveals that overall distance-based fares benefit low-income, elderly, and non-white populations. However, the effect is geographically uneven, and may be negative for members of these groups living on the urban fringe.
Assessing social equity in distance based transit fares using a model of travel behavior
Farber, Steven (author) / Bartholomew, Keith (author) / Li, Xiao (author) / Páez, Antonio (author) / Nurul Habib, Khandker M. (author)
Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice ; 67 ; 291-303
2014-07-28
13 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
Assessing social equity in distance based transit fares using a model of travel behavior
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