Unequal Transportation Services Promote Distance Barriers

How do Unequal Transportation Services Promote Distance Barriers?

With the increased decentralization of workplace locations and the concentration of low-income, underemployed residents in the inner city, a mismatch developed between the location of the urban poor and that of their employment opportunities (Kain, 1968; cited in Yago, 1983). Intra-metropolitan changes in job locations, increasing residential segregation by income, race, and class, deficiencies in public transit, and lower rates of car ownership exacerbate employment problems of the urban poor, both working and unemployed. Population and employment distributions in metropolitan regions create distance barriers maintained through separate and unequal transportation services (Mooney, 1969; Ornati, 1968; Davies and Albaum, 1972; cited in Yago, 1983).

According to Michael Manville, graduate researcher at UCLA, "the question isn't whether transit is accessible per se--almost anyone can get a bus--the question is how accessible are DESTINATIONS. It is still very hard and takes a very long time to get from Watts to the job-rich areas of the west side. We are less concerned here (or at least we am) with access to transit than with access to opportunity--how hard is it to get from a home to a job. And LA is far too vast and different to give a single number rating for that. In some areas the transportation is excellent (if you live and work along a rail line, for instance), in others it is miserable."

Dr. James Ortner, manager of Transit Technical Services for the Orange County Transportation Authority, adds that quality of access depends on the area you live in, but also that providing good access to public transit in Los Angeles is in itself another problem. "For those residents who do not have access to a car, we would rate the accessibility of the public transit system around 7 or 8 [out of 10, 10 being the best]. If you are in the more urbanized areas of the metropolitan region, bus and rail service is good. The problem is in this region is that dispersed activities and residences makes provision of efficient public transportation difficult."