Title

Lessons for Australia from the US: An American looks at transportation and social exclusion

Document Type

Edited Book

Publication Date

2007

Subject Area

Location - USA, Social Issues - Social exclusion, Social Issues - social inclusion

Abstract

Although the term social exclusion is rarely used in the US, many of the issues that fall under that rubric have long been part of US policy debates in the transportation arena. This paper’s goal is to critically evaluate US experiences to suggest to Australian policymakers the complex causes of different kinds of social exclusion and some potential policy solutions to address them. This paper first distinguishes seven types of social exclusion in the transportation area and then identifies five major causes. The paper next describes three major US approaches to a range of social exclusion issues in transportation (and other areas): the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Environmental Justice mandates, and the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act. Each is interesting because it addresses different kinds of social exclusion in transportation with different policy instruments. The US experience illustrates how complex a phenomenon social exclusion is and demonstrates that continuing efforts to ‘blame’ transportation deficiencies for many other types of social exclusion over-simply what are very complicated processes. In fact, US experiences illustrate the many interests that may be in conflict in distributing scarce resources to address social exclusion, attest to the real difficulties in using transportation systems and services alone to address social exclusion, and suggest that transportation must be part of a package of policies and programs to have any real impact.