Measuring Transportation Equity: Commute Time Penalties by Race and Mode in Greater Boston

Transportation agencies often evaluate regional transportation network performance by measuring impacts on residents, such as automobile fatalities or time spent in congested conditions. Few, however, evaluate the system based on social equity. Standardized, quantitative equity metrics will help planners and policymakers assess the ability of all residents to move throughout metropolitan regions safely, conveniently and within a reasonable amount of time. One dataset for constructing such equity metrics is the American Community Survey (ACS), which collects journey-to-work data including reported commute times. Commute times are a complex indicator, as they vary based on the spatial distribution and relative proximity of different types of residences and employment destinations as well as the transportation system’s options for connecting workers to jobs. Although strong scholarship exists that looks at commuting patterns by race and gender, racially-based differentials in travel time have not been addressed in the transportation research literature in recent years. To fill this gap, this paper introduces methods for the calculation of commute time differentials by race, travel mode and skill level using ACS data, designed to be replicable and comparable between regions. Applying these methods to a test region consisting of 153 communities around Boston, the authors present data detailing the extent and pattern of racially-based commute time disparities, including descriptive statistics and results of OLS regression tests. They hope that the identification of significant racially-based commute time differentials and the inequity of the resulting travel time penalty will contribute to a larger conversation around transportation equity.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADD20 Social and Economic Factors of Transportation.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Williams, Elizabeth
  • Pollack, Stephanie
  • Billingham, Chase
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 93rd Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC
  • Date: 2014-1-12 to 2014-1-16
• Date: 2014

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: 15p
• Monograph Title: TRB 93rd Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Commuting; Equity; Race; Transportation modes; Travel time; Work trips
• Identifier Terms: American Community Survey
• Geographic Terms: Boston (Massachusetts)
• Subject Areas: Planning and Forecasting; Society; Transportation (General); I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01515739
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 14-4849
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 25 2014 9:15AM