Same Network, Same Access to Urban Opportunities? Accessibility Via Public Transportation for Wheelchair Users

Abstract

Public transport plays a fundamental role in providing access to urban opportunities. People with mobility restrictions face greater obstacles than other members of society. This article seeks to explore the obstacles faced by wheelchair users in Montevideo, Uruguay. To do so, we designed a set of trips to actual destinations for five types of activities to compare time costs between wheelchair users and people without mobility restrictions. We estimated time costs for sidewalk segments, waiting time, onboard bus travel time, and coupling time (i.e., idle time due to the lack of bus provision closer to the activity starting times) and found that, relative to people without mobility restrictions, each of these transit components poses high costs for wheelchair users. From a policymaking perspective, our findings point out the importance of expanding universal design in public transport. They also call attention to other factors that explain travel time such as sidewalks segments and the temporal organization of urban activities that may turn into schedule mismatches.