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Looking beyond the mean for equity analysis: Examining distributional impacts of transportation improvements

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  • Bills, Tierra S.
  • Walker, Joan L.

Abstract

Activity-based travel demand models can be useful tools for understanding the individual level equity impacts of transportation plans, because of their ability to generate disaggregate transportation measures. However, these capabilities have yet to be fully explored in public practice. In this paper we first discuss a general framework for performing transportation equity analysis using activity-based travel demand models, distributional comparisons, and incorporating equity standards. In addition, we demonstrate the advantages of distributional comparisons, relative to average measures. This demonstration uses the 2000 Bay Area Travel Survey and (activity-based) mode choice model. The findings show that distributional comparisons are capable of clearly revealing the winners and losers that result from transportation improvements, in comparison with average measures. The use of these results will likely result in different conclusions on transportation investments.

Suggested Citation

  • Bills, Tierra S. & Walker, Joan L., 2017. "Looking beyond the mean for equity analysis: Examining distributional impacts of transportation improvements," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 61-69.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:54:y:2017:i:c:p:61-69
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2016.08.003
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    Cited by:

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    9. Chen, Zhiwei & Guo, Yujie & Stuart, Amy L. & Zhang, Yu & Li, Xiaopeng, 2019. "Exploring the equity performance of bike-sharing systems with disaggregated data: A story of southern Tampa," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 529-545.
    10. Ma, Xinwei & Ji, Yanjie & Yang, Mingyuan & Jin, Yuchuan & Tan, Xu, 2018. "Understanding bikeshare mode as a feeder to metro by isolating metro-bikeshare transfers from smart card data," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 57-69.
    11. Zhan, Shuguang & Wong, S.C. & Lo, S.M., 2020. "Social equity-based timetabling and ticket pricing for high-speed railways," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 165-186.
    12. Sharma, Ishant & Mishra, Sabyasachee & Golias, Mihalis M. & Welch, Timothy F. & Cherry, Christopher R., 2020. "Equity of transit connectivity in Tennessee cities," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    13. Sun, Zhe & Zacharias, John, 2020. "Transport equity as relative accessibility in a megacity: Beijing," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 8-19.
    14. Xiaoyun Li & Hongsheng Chen & Yu Shi & Feng Shi, 2019. "Transportation Equity in China: Does Commuting Time Matter?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-17, October.
    15. Barajas, Jesus, 2021. "The Roots of Racialized Travel Behavior," SocArXiv unmkx, Center for Open Science.
    16. Sun, Jiayun & Chow, Aaron C.H. & Michel Madanat, Samer, 2022. "Tradeoffs between optimality and equity in transportation network protection against sea level rise," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 195-208.
    17. Dai, Tianxing & Li, Jiayang & Nie, Yu (Marco), 2023. "Accessibility-based ethics-aware transit design," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    18. Bat-hen Nahmias-Biran & Yoram Shiftan, 2020. "Using activity-based models and the capability approach to evaluate equity considerations in transportation projects," Transportation, Springer, vol. 47(5), pages 2287-2305, October.
    19. Silva-Lopez, Rodrigo & Bhattacharjee, Gitanjali & Poulos, Alan & Baker, Jack W., 2022. "Commuter welfare-based probabilistic seismic risk assessment of regional road networks," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    20. Song, Yena & Kim, Hyun & Lee, Keumsook & Ahn, Kwangwon, 2018. "Subway network expansion and transit equity: A case study of Gwangju metropolitan area, South Korea," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 148-158.

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