Abstract
The evaluation of the social impacts of transport policies is attracting growing attention in recent years. Yet, this literature is still predominately focused on developed countries. The goal of this research is to investigate how investments in public transport networks can reshape social and geographical inequalities in access to opportunities in a developing country, using the city of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) as a case study. Recent mega-events, including the 2014 Football World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games, have triggered substantial investment in the city’s transport system. More recently, though, bus services in Rio have been rationalized and reduced as a response to a fiscal crisis and a drop in passenger demand, giving a unique opportunity to look at the distributional effects this cycle of investment and disinvestment have had on peoples’ access to educational and employment opportunities. Based on a before-and-after comparison of Rio’s public transport network, this study uses a spatial regression model and cluster analysis to estimate how accessibility gains vary across different income groups and areas of the city between April 2014 and March 2017. The results show that recent cuts in service levels have offset the potential benefits of newly added public transport infrastructure in Rio. Average access by public transport to jobs and public high-schools decreased approximately 4% and 6% in the period, respectively. Nonetheless, wealthier areas had on average small but statistically significant higher gains in access to schools and job opportunities than poorer areas. These findings suggest that, contrary to the official discourses of transport legacy, recent transport policies in Rio have exacerbated rather than reduced socio-spatial inequalities in access to opportunities.
Highlights
Researchers have long discussed the importance of transport policies in tackling social exclusion and improving access to out-of-home activities (Kwan, 2000; Lucas, 2012; van Wee & Geurs, 2011)
The modifiable areal unit problem (MAUP) is a source of statistical bias that can significantly impact the results of spatial analyses because of the ad-hoc ways in which data are aggregated in space according to different spatial scales and zonal schemes, such as census tracts or traffic analysis zones
The effects of MAUP have been widely documented in urban studies and, researchers have sometimes found that the conclusions of spatial analyses and subsequent policy recommendations can be significantly different depending on the spatial scale and shape of areal units employed (Omer, 2006; Tan & Samsudin, 2017)
Summary
Researchers have long discussed the importance of transport policies in tackling social exclusion and improving access to out-of-home activities (Kwan, 2000; Lucas, 2012; van Wee & Geurs, 2011). There has been a growing interest in the distributional effects of transport investments on socio-spatial inequalities in access to opportunities (Ciommo & Shiftan, 2017; Foth, Manaugh, & El-Geneidy, 2013). The MAUP is a source of statistical bias that can significantly impact the results of spatial analyses because of the ad-hoc ways in which data are aggregated in space according to different spatial scales and zonal schemes, such as census tracts or traffic analysis zones. The effects of MAUP have been widely documented in urban studies and, researchers have sometimes found that the conclusions of spatial analyses and subsequent policy recommendations can be significantly different depending on the spatial scale and shape of areal units employed (Omer, 2006; Tan & Samsudin, 2017). No study has yet investigated whether the effects of MAUP could influence the equity assessment of transportation projects
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