Gap between Policymakers’ Priorities and Users’ Needs in Planning for Accessible Public Transit System
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems
Volume 146, Issue 4
Abstract
Access to public transit forms a vital part of the well-being of people with disabilities. However, people with disabilities continue to be challenged in accessing their local transit services. This study investigates the existence of any gaps in users’ needs and practitioners’ prioritization of accessibility features. Senior practitioners deemed experts in the field from cities in New Zealand were invited to participate. Data were analyzed using the analytic hierarchy process to determine the ranking of nine accessibility factors. The most important factors identified by practitioners are crossing facilities (0.19) followed by access to stops/stations (0.17), and quality of footpaths (0.13), all of which are parts of the built environment. The least important factors are vegetation (0.047) and information at stops (0.058), whereas users placed more weight on information at stops (0.097) and vegetation (0.089). Bus driver attitude accounted for the largest disparity in prioritization between the two groups with a difference of 0.137. The study highlights the need to shift prioritization closer to the needs of people with disabilities to eliminate barriers.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Data Availability Statement
All data used during the study are available from the corresponding author by request (such as AHP weight calculations).
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to express their gratitude to Timothy J. Paterson-Catto and Samuel J. Wolk, civil engineering students, for collecting the data and assisting with the analysis.
References
Ahmad, M. 2015. “Independent-mobility rights and the state of public transport accessibility for disabled people: Evidence from southern Punjab in Pakistan.” Administration Soc. 47 (2): 197–213. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095399713490691.
Asplund, K., S. Wallin, and F. Jonsson. 2012. “Use of public transport by stroke survivors with persistent disability.” Scand. J. Disability Res. 14 (4): 289–299. https://doi.org/10.1080/15017419.2011.640408.
Bromley, R. D., D. L. Matthews, and C. J. Thomas. 2007. “City centre accessibility for wheelchair users: The consumer perspective and the planning implications.” Cities 24 (3): 229–241. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2007.01.009.
Burdett, B., and G. Pomeroy. 2011. “Design for disabled road users: It’s time to up our game.” In Proc., Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ) Transportation Conf., 2011. Wellington, New Zealand: Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ) Transportation Group.
Cancela, J., G. Fico, and M. T. A. Waldmeyer. 2015. “Using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to understand the most important factors to design and evaluate a telehealth system for Parkinson’s disease.” BMC Med. Inf. Decis. Making 15 (S3): S7. https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6947-15-S3-S7.
Carlsson, G. 2004. “Travelling by urban public transport: Exploration of usability problems in a travel chain perspective.” Scand. J. Occup. Ther. 11 (2): 78–89. https://doi.org/10.1080/11038120410020548.
Crudden, A., M. C. McDonnall, and A. Hierholzer. 2015. “Transportation: An electronic survey of persons who are blind or have low vision.” J. Visual Impairment Blindness 109 (6): 445–456. https://doi.org/10.1177/0145482X1510900603.
Currie, G., T. Richardson, P. Smyth, D. Vella-Brodrick, J. Hine, K. Lucas, J. Stanley, J. Morris, R. Kinnear, and J. Stanley. 2010. “Investigating links between transport disadvantage, social exclusion and well-being in Melbourne—Updated results.” Res. Transp. Econ. 29 (1): 287–295. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.retrec.2010.07.036.
Evans, G. 2009. “Accessibility, urban design and the whole journey environment.” Built Environ. 35 (3): 366–385. https://doi.org/10.2148/benv.35.3.366.
Frye, A. 1996. “Bus travel—A vital link in the chain of accessible transport.” In Proc., IMECHE Conf. Transactions: Bus and Coach ’96. London: Mechanical Engineering Publications.
Gallagher, B. A., P. M. Hart, C. O’Brien, M. R. Stevenson, and A. J. Jackson. 2011. “Mobility and access to transport issues as experienced by people with vision impairment living in urban and rural Ireland.” Disability Rehabil. 33 (12): 979–988. https://doi.org/10.3109/09638288.2010.516786.
Guest, G., A. Bunce, and L. Johnson. 2006. “How many interviews are enough? An experiment with data saturation and variability.” Field Methods 18 (1): 59–82. https://doi.org/10.1177/1525822X05279903.
Jansuwan, S., K. Christensen, and A. Chen. 2013. “Assessing the transportation needs of low-mobility individuals: Case study of a small urban community in Utah.” J. Urban Plann. Dev. 139 (2): 104–114. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)UP.1943-5444.0000142.
Jenkins, G. R., H. K. Yuen, and L. K. Vogtle. 2015. “Experience of multisensory environments in public space among people with visual impairment.” Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 12 (8): 8644–8657. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120808644.
Jensen, G. R., S. Iwarsson, and A. Stahl. 2002. “Theoretical understanding and methodological challenges in accessibility assessments, focusing the environmental component: An example from travel chains in urban public bus transport.” Disability Rehabil. 24 (5): 231–242. https://doi.org/10.1080/0963828011007022-1.
Karekla, X., T. Fujiyama, and N. Tyler. 2011. “Evaluating accessibility enhancements to public transport including indirect as well as direct benefits.” Res. Transp. Bus. Manage. 2 (Nov): 92–100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rtbm.2011.06.010.
Lindqvist, R., and J. Lundälv. 2012. “Participation in work life and access to public transport—Lived experiences of people with disabilities in Sweden.” Aust. J. Rehabil. Counselling 18 (02): 148–155. https://doi.org/10.1017/jrc.2012.15.
Meyers, A. R., J. J. Anderson, D. R. Miller, K. Shipp, and H. Hoenig. 2002. “Barriers, facilitators, and access for wheelchair users: Substantive and methodologic lessons from a pilot study of environmental effects.” Social Sci. Med. 55 (8): 1435–1446. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-9536(01)00269-6.
Mu, E., and M. Pereyra-Rojas. 2016. Practical decision making: An introduction to the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) using super decisions. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
Park, J., and S. Chowdhury. 2018. “Investigating the barriers in a typical journey by public transport users with disabilities.” J. Transp. Health. 10 (Sep): 361–368. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jth.2018.05.008.
Rosenberg, D. E., D. L. Huang, S. D. Simonovich, and B. Belza. 2013. “Outdoor built environment barriers and facilitators to activity among midlife and older adults with mobility disabilities.” Gerontologist 53 (2): 268–279. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gns119.
Saaty, T. L. 1977. “A scaling method for priorities in hierarchical structures.” J. Math. Psychol. 15 (3): 234–281. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-2496(77)90033-5.
Saaty, T. L. 1980. The analytic hierarchy process. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Saaty, T. L. 1990. “How to make a decision: The analytic hierarchy process.” Eur. J. Oper. Res. 48 (1): 9–26. https://doi.org/10.1016/0377-2217(90)90057-I.
Saaty, T. L., and L. G. Vargas. 2001. Models, methods, concepts & applications of the analytic hierarchy process. Boston: Springer.
Shapira, A., and M. Simcha. 2009. “AHP-based weighting of factors affecting safety on construction sites with tower cranes.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 135 (4): 307–318. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(2009)135:4(307).
Soltani, S. H. K., M. Sham, M. Awang, and R. Yaman. 2012. “Accessibility for disabled in public transportation terminal.” Procedia-Social Behav. Sci. 35 (Jan): 89–96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.02.066.
Sundling, C., B. Berglund, M. E. Nilsson, R. Emardson, and L. R. Pendrill. 2014. “Overall accessibility to traveling by rail for the elderly with and without functional limitations: The whole-trip perspective.” Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 11 (12): 12938–12968. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph111212938.
Tennoy, A., K. V. Oksenholt, N. Fearnley, and B. Matthews. 2015. “Standards for usable and safe environments for sight impaired.” Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng. Munic. Eng. 168 (1): 24–31. https://doi.org/10.1680/muen.13.00043.
Titheridge, H., K. Achuthan, R. Mackett, and J. Solomon. 2009. “Assessing the extent of transport social exclusion among the elderly.” J. Transp. Land Use 2 (2): 31–48. https://doi.org/10.5198/jtlu.v2i2.44.
Wu, C., J. Li, and X. Li. 2017. “Using community planning method to improve effect of urban barrier-free transportation system.” Transp. Res. Procedia 25 (Jan): 4330–4337. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trpro.2017.05.294.
Zhang, Y. 2011. “Barrier-free transport facilities in Shanghai: Current practice and future challenges.” In Bridging urbanities: Reflections on urban design in Shanghai and Berlin, 135. Münster, Germany: LIT Verlag Münster.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems
Volume 146 • Issue 4 • April 2020
Copyright
©2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 13, 2019
Accepted: Aug 26, 2019
Published online: Feb 11, 2020
Published in print: Apr 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Jul 11, 2020
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.