Top 9 Questions to Change How You Think About Transportation Equity
Research from Harvard has found transportation access is the single most important factor in the odds of escaping poverty, and we’ve previously written about the importance of improving transportation access for underserved populations. We are not alone in our awareness of this; the transportation policy community is becoming acutely attuned to the fact that transportation systems are a powerful tool to fight social inequities. This however, does require a comprehensive evaluation of those said transportation systems, and to help, we’ve created the top nine questions policy makers can ask when in the room while being pitched.
Question 1
What metrics does your software calculate to help users flag potential equity problems?
Transportation accessibility is often used as a proxy for equity, but the two aren’t synonymous. A transportation system might be available to users but go unused because it’s unaffordable, unsafe, inconvenient, hostile, or simply unsuitable for their needs. Subtle inequities are often hard to see on a map, so simple visualizations are often inadequate to identify inequities that may be statistical in nature. How does your software surface such problems?
Question 2
Can they precisely observe the impact of equity-oriented policies in the system?
Developing policies that demonstrably enhance equity while protecting the privacy of individuals requires a delicate balance of publicly accessible demographic information combined with detailed operational data. This approach permits policymakers to build policies that maximize benefits (e.g. making mobility systems more accessible in transit deserts) and minimizing negative impacts (e.g. traffic burden or excess idle vehicles that may create obstacles for pedestrians or individuals with disabilities). It is worth nothing, Lacuna’s equity tools permit policymakers to precisely tailor equity policies for the needs of a community. Translation: we’ve done the work.
Question 3
Does your software permit users to directly implement policies to improve inequities?
Some policy tools just allow users to observe potential equity problems. While identifying equity issues is an important task, the work cannot end there. Comprehensive transportation software tools allow users to create new policies that change the behavior of transportation operators to reduce or eliminate equity problems.
Question 4
If so [e.g. the software enables direct implementation of policies], are there any intrinsic limits to the types of equity-enhancing policies that could be created?
Some policy tools can only be applied to predefined geographies, like census tracts or council districts. Do the tools you use allow you to define new geographies, based on input from your communities and stakeholders? In some cases, equity enhancing policies may be temporary – establishing a protective geofence for a community event, for example. Does your policy creation tool allow for the creation of this type of policy?
Question 5
Does your software permit mode-specific policies to be implemented? If so, across how many different modes?
Communities often rely on numerous different forms of transportation: bicycles, buses, scooters, taxis, TNCs, and more. Do new modes serve transit deserts, filling in gaps in conventional transportation networks, or do they simply replicate old patterns? To address these questions, it’s important to know which modes your software can support.
Question 6
What is an example of a use case where a client has used your product to address an equity problem?
Equity tools are only as good as the problems that they can demonstrably solve. Our customers have used our tools to create pricing policies to improve transportation systems in underserved areas, vehicle density policies, event-based policies to protect pedestrians, and many more. Make sure who you’re evaluating can evidence the same.
Question 7
Has your company published any research on transportation equity topics?
We need to think proactively about how we can correct past wrongs. Researchers in the transportation field are uncovering new ways to detect and redress equity problems every day. It’s critical we share our knowledge and adopt best practices whenever possible. For example, you can read about our efforts in this area by way of Lacuna’s research collaborations to support equitable policies.
Question 8
Does your company contribute to the open-source ecosystem in ways that improve transportation equity?
Research can help our community think more proactively about equity issues yes, but we also need to help each other implement new measurements and policies to support equitable mobility. One way is to share code bases, lowering the barrier to entry for digital transportation policy. Lacuna actively contributes to the Open Mobility Foundation, including new tools to implement equity-enhancing policies, and cities all over the world have implemented their own versions of code, which our engineers have helped develop.
Question 9
Do your equity tools embrace or build on best practices in the transportation community?
More than 200 cities are now using digital policies to manage equity outcomes within the transportation policy community. Digital tools can ensure policies are designed to enhance equity, and implemented quickly as well as adapted when demographics change and new best practices are identified. Make sure the digital tools you're evaluating allow you to promptly build on the best ideas in the transportation community.
The growing focus on developing equity-enhancing policies in the mobility ecosystem represents an awakening of our collective consciousness to the benefits transportation systems can deliver–and the harms they can also impose, traditionally and disproportionately to low income communities and people of color.
Responsible and accountable transportation planning and operations change this reality, and the transportation systems of the future will be used to eliminate inequities rather than perpetuate them. Precise measurements of equity and targeted equity-enhancing policies are the key to achieving this. If you’d like to learn more, we’d love to help.
