Evaluating a Bottom-up User-Centered Planning Process for Transport Justice

Keywords: Microtransit; implementation; social justice
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

The Milwaukee region suffers from a long-term spatial mismatch: residential segregation limits the housing mobility of minority groups and consequently reduces their access to suburbanized jobs. We designed and experimented with FlexRide Milwaukee, a new microtransit service that aims to address the spatial mismatch. Through a bottom-up user-based planning process, two user groups—employers and labor force participants—shaped two service designs of FlexRide Milwaukee. The National Science Foundation funds the design and the pilot implementation.
We answer the research question: Can a bottom-up user-centered planning process improve transport justice? Specifically, we test two hypotheses: 1. The planning process yields different service designs for the two user groups. 2. The design preferred by the labor force participants performs better in improving transportation mobility and economic prospects of disadvantaged groups? Our exploratory research approach involves qualitative and quantitative analyses. In the planning process, we document the expressed travel needs and constraints of the two user groups as well as their different levels of representation. Using data collected in the pilot implementation, we compare performance indicators of the two service designs and estimate riders’ choices between the two designs.
We find significantly different travel needs and constraints between the two user groups, which lead to different designs. Furthermore, the service design proposed by the labor force participants is more likely to serve disadvantaged communities. This experiment accumulates knowledge that can inform the planning, implementation, and management of new transportation services to improve social justice.