Capturing the impact of individual characteristics on transport accessibility and equity analysis
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Published version
Author(s)
Dixit, M
Sivakumar, A
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Transport accessibility experienced by an individual depends on their needs and abilities, as represented by their individual characteristics, such as age, income and gender. Although important from an equity perspective, the individual component of accessibility is currently ignored in most transport equity studies.This paper evaluates the impact of including individual characteristics into logsum-based accessibility measures for transport equity analysis. Using data from the London Travel Demand Survey (LTDS) 2011-13, two alternate log sum measures of accessibility are specified –with and without individual characteristics. An empirical analysis of spatial, social and economic equity is conducted using both the measures,and the outcomes are compared.The results clearly demonstrate that ignoring individual characteristics in logsum measures of accessibility can lead to unreliable outcomes for social and economic equity analysis,but do not add significant value when aggregated across large geographical zones for spatial equity analysis.Overall, ignoring individual characteristics masks the disparity in distribution of accessibility, as measured by the Gini index. Although not straightforward, the difference between accessibility patterns using the two logsum measures also yields insights into the possible causes of inequity, which can provide actionable inputs to policy makers.The study highlights that personal needs and abilities are often responsible for accessibility variations among individuals and ignoring them can result in a misleading picture of equity,as demonstrated quantitatively in this paper.
Date Issued
2020-10
Date Acceptance
2020-07-14
ISSN
1361-9209
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
1
End Page
17
Journal / Book Title
Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment
Volume
87
Copyright Statement
© 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY/4.0/)
Sponsor
Wellcome Trust
Identifier
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S136192092030660X?via%3Dihub
Grant Number
209376/Z/17/Z
Subjects
0502 Environmental Science and Management
1205 Urban and Regional Planning
1507 Transportation and Freight Services
Logistics & Transportation
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2020-09-14