Transportation equity is built on the foundation of distributing the benefits and costs resulting from policies and plans in a fair, just, and responsible manner. Historically in the United States, car-oriented development has generated a transportation system that is often comprised of “winners” and “losers”, where parts of the population are underserved, receiving an unfair burden of costs, or are left out of a fair share of benefits. Transportation agencies are increasingly seeking to better serve communities and emphasize transportation equity in their evaluation and prioritization. However, even with heightened interest in this domain, transportation researchers and practitioners alike, often struggle to reach a consensus on what equity truly means. To make progress in promoting equity, there is a need to understand the complexity of people’s subjective equity viewpoints and what they care about. Yet, few studies to date have acknowledged the subjective side of equity within an analytical framework to assess fairness within transit systems. This research investigates the subjective aspects of equity from the perspective of community members. We rely on rich behavioral and qualitative data to examine the subjective and people-centered side of equity. The results of analyzing data from both transit and health-access travel reveal that individuals' firsthand experiences using transportation systems, as well as their personal sense of justice or fairness, shape their perceptions of equity.
An important next step is to develop a formal framework to incorporate the subjective experience and attitudes of equity within an analytical framework to better assess fairness within transportation systems. These perspectives can help agencies shape future transportation policy and engagement strategies, differentiate between subjective and objective explanations for customer behavior, and pinpoint explanations of perceived inequities in transportation systems.
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