[sustran] a bias against drivers? -- equity considerations?
Robert Cervero
robertc at uclink.berkeley.edu
Fri Jul 6 08:14:38 JST 2001
>Actually, public transport excludes a much larger percentage of the people.
Isn't this argument circular? That is, isn't a big reason US cities
average such poor
transit accessibility levels due to the fact that auto-centric development
patterns (fueled
in part by hidden subsidies to auto-motoring) lead to abysmal-quality
transit services -- e.g.,
fixed-route buses that come by every 30 minutes for 10 hours a day, hardly
a respectable mobility
option for most car-owning folks. Thus the post-war history of transit in
the US -- declining ridership
begets more service cuts which begets declining ridership and so on.
>Let us take the average American urbanized area of 1 million for example.
>Generally, the 95 percent or so of people with access to cars can get to 100
>percent of the jobs
Shouldn't this be a bit more inclusive, weighing accessibility not just for
workers but for everyone? The 2000 census revealed that around 25% of
Americans were below 17 years of age (thus too young to drive) and another
6% were 75 years of age or more (a goodly share pressing their abilities to
drive). Among American in the 5-64 year age group that presumably
represents prime driving ages, 17.3% had severe disabilities
(sight/hearing/walking impaired). Auto-accessibility is great for the
shrinking majority of Americans who are able to drive, but for the teenager
stuck in the burbs without a car, the blind, and the many others we tend to
overlook, it's pretty non-existent. Yes, a parent or friend can chauffeur
such folks around, but surely there are costs (quality-of-life? "time
pollution"?) associated with this form of auto-mobility. I buy into
certain principles of "sustainable auto-mobility" (cleaner fuels, hybrid
engines, etc.), however there's nothing we can do to tinker with vehicle
designs and re-engineer the car to redress the inherent injustices and
social inequities associated with car-dependent cityscapes.
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