Title

Conclusions from the US experience

Authors

Karen Lucas

Document Type

Edited Book

Publication Date

2004

Subject Area

Location - USA

Abstract

The environmental justice movement in the US has been recognising inequalities in access to transportation since the mid-1960s. The problem was even raised by Martin Luther King when he called for structural reforms to deal with race and poverty. The US case studies have shown that, since this time, there has been a gradual (but far from problem free) shift towards both formal government recognition of the problem and policy commitment to resolving it. The question is whether this has made a visible difference on the ground. Clearly, there are numerous contributory factors in transportation disadvantage, including people not being able to afford their own vehicle; lack of public transportation to and from work or other means of transportation; public transportation not being offered on the weekends or evenings when jobs are available; lack of childcare; no public transportation in rural areas and the job market locating further distances from the centers of cities and urban sprawl. Equally evident, given the multiple and complex nature of the problem is that there is no single solution.