At What Cost: How Bikeshare Docking Stations Impact Low-Income Communities

Increased transportation options can improve equity in communities by reducing costly reliance on cars and extending the number of opportunities that residents in those communities can access. However, there is also a potential dark – and unintended – side to transportation infrastructure: gentrification. Gentrification can undermine both equity and climate change mitigation efforts. This research uses 2014 and 2019 American Community Survey data to compare neighborhood change in Chicago census tracts that are proximate to a Divvy Bikes docking station with neighborhoods outside of station catchment areas. Research finds that tracts within a half-mile of a docking station changed more significantly than tracts between half- and two miles from a docking station, supporting an association between bikeshare docking stations and neighborhood change. Additionally, neighborhoods with lower median household incomes changed more between 2014 and 2019 compared to neighborhoods that had higher median incomes. These findings indicate that planners should implement strategies to mitigate housing displacement from gentrification to both improve equitable access to transportation options and support the potential bikeshare mode shift to reduce transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions.

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Media Type: Web
  • Features: Figures; References; Tables;
  • Pagination: 20p

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01857956
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Report/Paper Numbers: TRBAM-22-00291
  • Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
  • Created Date: Sep 19 2022 5:02PM