دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی مقایسه دستیابی به مشاغل با حمل و نقل عمومی برای افراد دارای معلولیت جسمانی - الزویر 2018

ABSTRACT

Equal access to opportunities has emerged in public transport planning as a social objective that many transport agencies are trying to achieve. Yet in practice, not all public transport agencies are currently providing urban residents with comparable levels of service due to physical barriers in the public transport network that can significantly hinder the ability of individuals with physical disabilities to access opportunities. In countries without a strong federal accessibility act and/or with major financial constraints, some public transport agencies fall behind in applying universal access design principles, making it even harder for people with a physical disability to access opportunities. The objective of this study is to develop a methodology that can be used by public transport agencies or disability advocates to clearly highlight and quantify the performance of the public transport network in a region, in terms of providing transit services to people in a wheelchair and compare that to the service offered to an individual not in a wheelchair. In this study we use accessibility, the ease of reaching destinations, by public transport as the key performance measure in two major Canadian Cities (Montreal and Toronto). Furthermore, we focus on job accessibility in the most socially vulnerable census tracts in both cities, to evaluate levels of job accessibility for wheelchair users residing in socially vulnerable areas. The findings from our study show striking contrasts between the numbers of accessible jobs by public transport for wheelchair users compared to the general population. On average, wheelchair users in Toronto have access to 75% of jobs that are accessible to users that are not in a wheelchair, whilst their counterparts in Montreal have access to only 46% of the jobs accessible to other users. This research is expected to highlight for public transport engineers, planners, policy makers and advocates for those with disabilities, the importance of universal access in a region, especially along public transport networks, using a widely used land use and transport performance measure.

7. Discussion and conclusion

Developing public transport service that follows universal design principles is an important target for public transport agencies to ensure that the built environment is not disabling individuals in a wheelchair. In this study, we evaluated public transport networks in two Canadian cities, Montreal and Toronto, where both cities are retrofitting their networks to ensure that all individuals can use the public transport system. The objective of this study was to generate a methodology using accessibility measures to jobs to identify the gaps in accessibility by public transport to jobs for wheelchair users compared to non-wheelchair users. Using GTFS data that provide details regarding whether public transport stations are accessible for individuals in a wheelchair and whether trips are operated with an accessible vehicle, we calculated the number of jobs that can be reached within 45 min of travel by public transport for an individual in a wheelchair and compared this number to the total number of accessible jobs for a person not in a wheelchair. The results of this study contribute to the accessibility literature by presenting a new method of evaluating the performance of the transport and land use system that considers how well the public transport network is able to connect wheelchair users in a region to employment opportunities. The methods of this study can be replicated in other contexts where physical access information is provided by transit agencies within GTFS data as well as demonstrating how transit agencies can apply such data to generate accessibility measures that are sensitive to physical access. In a robust quantitative culture, measuring the level of transit (in) accessibility for these disadvantaged groups will have important impacts for bringing attention to how significant this issue is. The findings demonstrate how large the gap in accessibility to jobs is between wheelchair users and the general population currently is, which points to the need for interventions to increase access for individuals with physical disabilities. Furthermore, we identified areas in both cities that have high proportions of socially vulnerable individuals, to highlight locations in the network that should be identified as priority locations for intervention. Access to employment opportunities through public transport in socially vulnerable neighborhoods is particularly critical for the well-being of physically disabled individuals, who are more likely to lack alternative means for mobility. While this study focused on public transport trips for individuals in a wheelchair, findings from this research can be of value for many individuals beyond those in a wheelchair, for example older adults, individuals traveling with a stroller, or travelers with heavy bags or luggage.