Abstract
Equity is a critical field of study in transportation. The built transportation network does not serve the needs of the population to achieve equal levels of economic vitality and prosperity. Because of these concerns, there has been a recent effort to address these equity issues in the transportation network. This effort coincides with a massive growth in the data that are available for transportation practitioners, known as big data. The growth of data has led to data-driven decision-making to allow for more effective transportation policies and decisions than were afforded with classical methods. However, as the amount of data available has grown, the understanding of the biases within that data and the equity implications of those biases has not. Equity biases are any bias in a data source that produces a negative equity outcome by underrepresenting historically disadvantaged populations. This reframes the concept of data biases by focusing on the equity outcomes of data biases as opposed to the precipitating causes of bias. Understanding, quantifying, and mitigating these equity biases are critical to ensuring the practice of equity is maintained in the transportation field. This paper addresses this concept by first showing the historical and current practices related to equity in transportation, second by reviewing the growth of big data in transportation, and finally by reviewing the current practices related to data biases in transportation.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Data Availability Statement
No data, models, or code were generated or used during the study.
References
Allen, J., and S. Farber. 2020. “Suburbanization of transport poverty.” Ann. Am. Assoc. Geogr. 111 (6): 1833–1850. https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2020.1859981.
Antoniou, C., R. Balakrishna, and H. Koutsopoulos. 2008. “Emerging data collection technologies and their impact on traffic management applications.” Eur. Transport Res. Rev. 3 (Nov): 139–148. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12544-011-0058-1.
Asensio, C., J. M. López, R. Pagán, I. Pavón, and M. Ausejo. 2009. “GPS-based speed collection method for road traffic noise mapping.” Transp. Res. Part D: Transp. Environ. 14 (5): 360–366. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2009.03.008.
Bagchi, M., and P. R. White. 2005. “The potential of public transport smart card data.” Transp. Policy 12 (5): 464–474. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2005.06.008.
Basche, L. 2011. Gartner says solving “big data” challenge involves more than just managing volumes of data. San Francisco: Business Wire.
Beiler, M. O., and M. Mohammed. 2016. “Exploring transportation equity: Development and application of a transportation justice framework.” Transp. Res. Part D: Transp. Environ. 47 (Aug): 285–298. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2016.06.007.
Bergman, C., and J. Oksanen. 2016. “Estimating the biasing effect of behavioural patterns on mobile fitness app data by density-based clustering.” In Proc., 19th AGILE Conf. on Geographic Information Science Geospatial Data in a Changing World, edited by T. Sarjakoski, M. Yasmina Santos, and L. T. Sarjakoski, 199–218. Berlin: Springer.
Bills, T. S., and J. L. Walker. 2017. “Looking beyond the mean for equity analysis: Examining distributional impacts of transportation improvements.” Transp. Policy 54 (Feb): 61–69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2016.08.003.
Bollier, D. 2010. The promise and peril of big data, 1–66. Washington, DC: Aspen Institute.
Boucher, D., and P. J. Kelly. 1998. Social justice: From Hume to Walzer. London: Psychology Press.
Bullard, R. D., G. S. Johnson, and A. O. Torres. 2004. Highway robbery: Transportation racism and new routes to equity. Boston: South End Press.
Carleton, P. R., and J. D. Porter. 2018. “A comparative analysis of the challenges in measuring transit equity: Definitions, interpretations, and limitations.” J. Transp. Geogr. 72 (Oct): 64–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2018.08.012.
Chen, C., T. H. Luan, X. Guan, N. Lu, and Y. Liu. 2017. “Connected vehicular transportation: Data analytics and traffic-dependent networking.” IEEE Veh. Technol. Mag. 12 (3): 42–54. https://doi.org/10.1109/MVT.2016.2645318.
Chen, H., R. H. L. Chiang, and V. C. Storey. 2012. “Business intelligence and analytics: From big data to big impact.” MIS Q. 36 (4): 1165–1188. https://doi.org/10.2307/41703503.
Chen, Y., A. Frei, and H. S. Mahmassani. 2014. “From personal attitudes to public opinion: Information diffusion in social networks toward sustainable transportation.” Transp. Res. Rec. 2430 (1): 28–37. https://doi.org/10.3141/2430-04.
Clair, D. J. S. 1981. “The motorization and decline of urban public transit, 1935–1950.” J. Econ. Hist. 41 (3): 579–600. https://doi.org/10.1017/S002205070004434X.
Cochran, S. 1994. “Transportation, social equity, and city-suburban connections.” In Planning and community equity, 17–37. Abingdon-on-Thames, UK: Routledge.
Cottrill, C. D., and S. Derrible. 2015. “Leveraging big data for the development of transport sustainability indicators.” J. Urban Technol. 22 (1): 45–64. https://doi.org/10.1080/10630732.2014.942094.
Courage, K. G., M. Doctor, S. Maddula, and R. Surapaneni. 1996. Video image detection for traffic surveillance and control. Washington, DC: Federal Highway Administration.
Crawford, K. 2013. “The hidden biases in big data.” Harvard Business Review, April 1, 2013.
Delgado-Rodríguez, M., and J. Llorca. 2004. “Bias.” J. Epidemiol. Community Health 58 (8): 635–641. https://doi.org/10.1136/jech.2003.008466.
Diao, M., Y. Zhu, J. Ferreira, and C. Ratti. 2016. “Inferring individual daily activities from mobile phone traces: A Boston example.” Environ. Plann. B: Plann. Des. 43 (5): 920–940. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265813515600896.
Di Ciommo, F., and Y. Shiftan. 2017. “Transport equity analysis.” Transp. Rev. 37 (2): 139–151. https://doi.org/10.1080/01441647.2017.1278647.
Dumbaugh, E., J. Tumlin, and W. E. Marshall. 2014. “Decisions, values, and data: Understanding bias in transportation performance measures.” Inst. Transp. Eng. ITE J. 84 (8): 20–25.
Elman, C. 2005. “Explanatory typologies in qualitative studies of international politics.” Int. Organ. 59 (2): 293–326. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020818305050101.
Fan, Y., A. Guthrie, L. Van Dort, and G. Baas. 2019. Advancing transportation equity: Research and practice, 81. Minneapolis: Univ. of Minnesota.
Frey, W. H. 1979. “Central city white flight: Racial and nonracial causes.” Am. Sociological Rev. 44 (3): 425–448. https://doi.org/10.2307/2094885.
Gal-Tzur, A., S. M. Grant-Muller, T. Kuflik, E. Minkov, S. Nocera, and I. Shoor. 2014. “The potential of social media in delivering transport policy goals.” Transp. Policy 32 (Mar): 115–123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2014.01.007.
Gamage, P. 2016. “New development: Leveraging ‘big data’ analytics in the public sector.” Public Money Manage. 36 (5): 385–390. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540962.2016.1194087.
García-Albertos, P., M. Picornell, M. H. Salas-Olmedo, and J. Gutiérrez. 2019. “Exploring the potential of mobile phone records and online route planners for dynamic accessibility analysis.” Transp. Res. Part A: Policy Pract. 125 (Jul): 294–307. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2018.02.008.
Garrett, M., and B. Taylor. 1999. “Reconsidering social equity in public transit.” Berkeley Plann. J. 13 (1): 294–307. https://doi.org/10.5070/BP313113028.
Gong, H., C. Chen, E. Bialostozky, and C. T. Lawson. 2012. “A GPS/GIS method for travel mode detection in New York City.” Comput. Environ. Urban Syst. 36 (2): 131–139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2011.05.003.
Gong, L., X. Liu, L. Wu, and Y. Liu. 2016. “Inferring trip purposes and uncovering travel patterns from taxi trajectory data.” Cartogr. Geogr. Inf. Sci. 43 (2): 103–114. https://doi.org/10.1080/15230406.2015.1014424.
Griffin, G. P., and J. Jiao. 2019. “Crowdsourcing bicycle volumes: Exploring the role of volunteered geographic information and established monitoring methods.” SocArXiv, January 12, 2019.
Griffin, G. P., M. Mulhall, C. Simek, and W. W. Riggs. 2020. “Mitigating bias in big data for transportation.” J. Big Data Anal. Transp. 2 (1): 49–59. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42421-020-00013-0.
Guenduez, A. A., T. Mettler, and K. Schedler. 2020. “Technological frames in public administration: What do public managers think of big data?” Gov. Inf. Q. 37 (1): 101406. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2019.101406.
Herrera, J. C., D. B. Work, R. Herring, X. J. Ban, Q. Jacobson, and A. M. Bayen. 2010. “Evaluation of traffic data obtained via GPS-enabled mobile phones: The mobile century field experiment.” Transp. Res. Part C: Emerging Technol. 18 (4): 568–583. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2009.10.006.
Heyer, J., M. Palm, and D. Niemeier. 2020. “Are we keeping up? Accessibility, equity and air quality in regional planning.” J. Transp. Geogr. 89 (Dec): 102891. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2020.102891.
Höchtl, J., P. Peter, and S. Ralph. 2016. “Big data in the policy cycle: Policy decision making in the digital era.” J. Organ. Comput. Electron. Commerce 26 (1–2): 147–169. https://doi.org/10.1080/10919392.2015.1125191.
Hong, S., S. Hyoung Kim, Y. Kim, and J. Park. 2019. “Big data and government: Evidence of the role of big data for smart cities.” Big Data Soc. 6 (1). https://doi.org/10.1177/2053951719842543.
Huang, E. 2010. “Algorithmic and implementation aspects of on-line calibration of dynamic traffic assignment.” Doctoral dissertation, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Kang, C., Y. Liu, X. Ma, and L. Wu. 2012. “Towards estimating urban population distributions from mobile call data.” J. Urban Technol. 19 (4): 3–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/10630732.2012.715479.
Karner, A. 2016. “Planning for transportation equity in small regions: Towards meaningful performance assessment.” Transp. Policy 52 (Nov): 46–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2016.07.004.
Karner, A., J. London, D. Rowangould, and K. Manaugh. 2020. “From transportation equity to transportation justice: Within, through, and beyond the state.” J. Plann. Lit. 35 (4): 440–459. https://doi.org/10.1177/0885412220927691.
Kwayu, K. M., S. M. Lyimo, and V. Kwigizile. 2021. “Characteristics of cyclists using fitness tracker apps and its implications for planning of bicycle transport systems.” Case Stud. Transp. Policy 9 (3): 1160–1166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cstp.2021.06.004.
Lempert, R., J. Syme, G. Mazur, D. Knopman, G. Ballard-Rosa, K. Lizon, and I. Edochie. 2020. “Meeting climate, mobility, and equity goals in transportation planning under wide-ranging scenarios.” J. Am. Plann. Assoc. 86 (3): 311–323. https://doi.org/10.1080/01944363.2020.1727766.
Leung, S., C. J. Robinson, C. McCartan, R. Z. Kiana, H. Mark, and I. Vaughn. 2019. I-405 express toll lanes: Usage, benefits, and equity. Seattle: eScience Institute.
Lewis, E. O. C., D. MacKenzie, and J. Kaminsky. 2021. “Exploring equity: How equity norms have been applied implicitly and explicitly in transportation research and practice.” Transp. Res. Interdiscip. Perspect. 9 (Mar): 100332. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trip.2021.100332.
Lin, Y.-T., T.-W. Hung, and L. T.-L. Huang. 2020. “Engineering equity: How AI can help reduce the harm of implicit bias.” Philos. Technol. 34 (1): 65–90. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-020-00406-7.
Litman, T. 2018. “Evaluating transportation equity.” World Transp. Policy Pract. 8 (2): 50–65.
Liu, S., H. Cao, L. Li, and M. Zhou. 2013. “Predicting stay time of mobile users with contextual information.” IEEE Trans. Autom. Sci. Eng. 10 (4): 1026–1036. https://doi.org/10.1109/TASE.2013.2259480.
Lopes, J., J. Bento, E. Huang, C. Antoniou, and M. Ben-Akiva. 2010. “Traffic and mobility data collection for real-time applications.” In Proc., 13th Int. IEEE Conf. on Intelligent Transportation Systems, 216–223. New York: IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/ITSC.2010.5625282.
Martens, K., and A. Golub. 2021. “A fair distribution of accessibility: Interpreting civil rights regulations for regional transportation plans.” J. Plann. Educ. Res. 41 (4): 425–444. https://doi.org/10.1177/0739456X18791014.
Martens, K., M. E. Singer, and A. L. Cohen-Zada. 2022. “Equity in accessibility.” J. Am. Plann. Assoc. 88 (4): 479–494. https://doi.org/10.1080/01944363.2021.2016476.
McArdle, G., and R. Kitchin. 2016. “Improving the veracity of open and real-time urban data.” Built Environ. 42 (3): 457–473. https://doi.org/10.2148/benv.42.3.457.
Miller, H. J. 1999. “Measuring space-time accessibility benefits within transportation networks: Basic theory and computational procedures.” Geogr. Anal. 31 (1): 187–212. https://doi.org/10.1111/gean.1999.31.1.187.
Mohl, R. 2004. “Stop the road: Freeway revolts in American cities.” J. Urban Hist. 30 (5): 674–706. https://doi.org/10.1177/0096144204265180.
O’Leary, D. 2013. “Exploiting big data from mobile device sensor-based apps: Challenges and benefits.” MIS Q. Executive 12 (4): 179–187.
Pelletier, M.-P., M. Trepanier, and C. Morency. 2011. “Smart card data use in public transit: A literature review.” Transp. Res. Part C: Emerging Technol. 19 (4): 557–568. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2010.12.003.
Pereira, R., and A. Karner. 2021. “Transportation equity.” In International encyclopedia of transportation, 271–277. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-102671-7.10053-3.
Qi, L. 2008. “Research on intelligent transportation system technologies and applications.” In Proc., 2008 Workshop on Power Electronics and Intelligent Transportation System, 529–531. New York: IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/PEITS.2008.124.
Reinsel, D., J. Gantz, and J. Rydning. 2017. “Total WW data to reach 163 ZB by 2025.” Storage Newsletter, April 5, 2017.
Sanchez, T. W., C. Makarewicz, P. M. Hasa, and C. J. Dawkins. 2006. “Transportation costs, inequities, and tradeoffs.” In Proc., 16th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board. Washington, DC: Transportation Research Board.
Sanchez, T. W., R. Stolz, and J. S. Ma. 2003. Moving to equity: Addressing inequitable effects transportation policies on minorities. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ.
Sanchez, T. W., R. Stolz, and J. S. Ma. 2004. “Inequitable effects of transportation policies on minorities.” Transp. Res. Rec. 1885 (1): 104–110. https://doi.org/10.3141/1885-15.
Schweitzer, L. A., and N. Afzalan. 2017. “09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0: Four reasons why AICP needs an open data ethic.” J. Am. Plann. Assoc. 83 (2): 161–167. https://doi.org/10.1080/01944363.2017.1290495.
Seely-Gant, K., and L. M. Frehill. 2015. “Exploring bias and error in big data research.” J. Wash. Acad. Sci. 101 (3): 29–38.
Shearmur, R. 2015. “Dazzled by data: Big data, the census and urban geography.” Urban Geogr. 36 (7): 965–968. https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2015.1050922.
Uhlemann, E. 2015. “Autonomous vehicles are connecting… [connected vehicles].” IEEE Veh. Technol. Mag. 10 (2): 22–25. https://doi.org/10.1109/MVT.2015.2414814.
Wang, X., S. Zhao, and L. Dong. 2017. “Research and application of traffic visualization based on vehicle GPS big data.” In Proc., 2nd Int. Conf. on Intelligent Transportation Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies, edited by L. Huapu, 293–302. Singapore: Springer.
Williamson, A. 2014. “Big data and the implications for government.” Legal Inf. Manage. 14 (4): 253–257. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1472669614000553.
Yeganeh, A. J., R. P. Hall, A. R. Pearce, and S. Hankey. 2018. “A social equity analysis of the U.S. public transportation system based on job accessibility.” J. Transp. Land Use 11 (1): 1039–1056. https://doi.org/10.5198/jtlu.2018.1370.
Zannat, K., and C. F. Choudhury. 2019. “Emerging big data sources for public transport planning: A systematic review on current state of art and future research directions.” J. Indian Inst. Sci. 99 (4): 601–619. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41745-019-00125-9.
Zeyu, J., Y. Shuiping, Z. Mingduan, C. Yongqiang, and L. Yi. 2017. “Model study for intelligent transportation system with big data.” In Proc., 7th Int. Congress of Information and Communication Technology (ICICT2017), 418–426. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier.
Zhou, X., A. G. Yeh, W. Li, and Y. Yue. 2018. “A commuting spectrum analysis of the jobs–housing balance and self-containment of employment with mobile phone location big data.” Environ. Plann. B: Urban Anal. City Sci. 45 (3): 434–451. https://doi.org/10.1177/2399808317707967.
Zhu, L., F. R. Yu, Y. Wang, B. Ning, and T. Tang. 2019. “Big data analytics in intelligent transportation systems: A survey.” IEEE Trans. Intell. Transp. Syst. 20 (1): 383–398. https://doi.org/10.1109/TITS.2018.2815678.
Zikopoulos, P., D. Deroos, K. Parasuraman, T. Deutsch, J. Giles, and D. Corrigan. 2012. Harness the power of big data: The IBM data platform. New York: McGraw Hill.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems
Volume 149 • Issue 11 • November 2023
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Aug 30, 2023
Published in print: Nov 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Jan 30, 2024
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.