Transportation and race has always been connected dating back to the early nineteen hundreds. Whether it pertains to segregation, highways being built through low income neighborhoods, and isolated areas specifically designated for people of color. The issue of race can be such a touchy subject but it must be addressed when it comes to transportation, because it affects so many people in many different ways. Some may credit the Montgomery boycott Act as the trailblazer for equal right when it come to the transportation system and race. The city of Montgomery which is located in Alabama banned together and protested due to segregation on the public bus system. African American riders were forced to sit in the back of the bus and were treated unfairly by the Caucasian riders. More than 40,000 African American riders boycotted the bus system which forced the government to enforce integration. Although segregation became illegal bus riders were still forced to remain segregated at bus stops. Another major issue with race and transportation is how lower income areas are plowed through or not taken into consideration due to their economic status. Many low income neighborhoods are destroyed because developers and the government see potential to make a profit from these locations. When these neighborhoods are destroyed families are displaced and it destroy a sense of unity witinh the communities. Jane Jacobs was a strong activist for a sense of community and she fought against Robert Moses because he tried to build a highway through a lower income area in New York City. Health is also a very important issue that is important when it comes to race and transportation, because certain areas are not considered health wise when it comes to where bus depots and brigs are built. On the west side of Buffalo New York  the asthma rate is more than four times the national average due to the Peace Bridge. The Peace Bridge is heavily traveled between Canada and the United States, and due to the harmful diesel emissions many of the residents in the area are have serious health issues. The residents have filed complaints but they are being ignored due to their race and financial status. Lastly the issue is transportation routes are a big problem due to the lack of inclusion. Inclusion is very important when it comes to decision making. Low income areas depend on public and transportation and their input is often neglected which causes a major problem. If their opinion was taken into consideration the routes would better suit their needs. Race and transportation will continue to be a battle due to the lack of inclusion and builders and the government choosing money over community.

Works Cited:

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2015/02/america_s_transportation_system_discriminates_against_minorities_and_poor.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Jacobs#Struggle_for_Greenwich_Village

https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/montgomery-bus-boycott

Transportation and Gender

There are many differences in the basic mobility needs between men and women, the majority of them being grounding in the gender based division of family life and labor. While these differences and divisions are less seen in first world countries as male and female roles have become blended into one another, these divisions are more clearly visible in impoverished nations. Men are often stereotyped as the bread winners and main source of income in a family. It’s generalized that men leave for work in the morning only to come back in the evening at the end of their work day. While women are often portrayed as being mothers first with home and community based roles playing a stronger part than wage earning. Women play multiple roles as income earners, community organizers and head of the household. Women on average take more trips than men a day often accompanied by children.

           

Existing transportation systems rarely if ever cater towards the needs of women. Most systems of travel are biased for the convenience of their male counterparts. Access to private motor vehicles is often considered a luxury of the wealthy. In households where they can afford a car, it is still usually only the men that drive, especially if the family only has one car. Women are usually forced to use alternate forms of transport including but not limited to public transportation. A study from Nairobi, Kenya revealed that while 24% of male heads of households used a car, only 9% of women heads did. Another study made in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, showed 23% of trips to work made by men were made by car, but only 6% of the women’s. In some areas, there are cultural restraints that prevent women from driving and being out of the house without a male counterpart. These restraints also exist for the use of public transportation. In majority Muslim based cities such as Dhaka, It is difficult for women to share packed buses with men as social restraints such as the religious dogma of the purdah, promote the social seclusion of women. This can be a very difficult hurdle in progress for women as in lower income classes women are very reliant on public transportation. Safety and harassment are also big concerns for women riding public transit. Women are often riding with groceries or children and reports of abuse, rape and catcalling occur frequently. The transit routes are also impractical as they generally follow a business corridor catering for male workers. Routes to shopping centers and social facilities are few and far between often requiring multiple stops and bus changes to arrive.

            In developing countries, public transport is not fully accessible to all leaving bicycles or animal drawn carriages to be the most practical means of getting around. A World Bank study on Dhaka, Bangladesh exposed that 35% of female commuters relied on cycle rickshaws as their sole mode of transport. However when the government of Bangladesh proposed to ban rickshaws from the streets of Dhaka, they were singling out not only the most environmentally-friendly mode available, but the one transport choice most essential and accessible women, thereby gravely affecting their mobility.

 Physical barriers are rarely the cause for the lack of accessible transportation, instead socio-cultural barriers are the main issue blocking the way for progress. Currently there is very little being done to help this cause. In order to make transport policy work for women it needs to be more responsive of their needs and have a structural approach. Costs and benefits should be analyzed and an appropriate policy framework needs to be established. It is important that women are represented every step of the way through these processes in order to implement a change that gives results and that one that works.

Sources:

·         Peters, D. (1999, July 28). Gender Issues in Transportation: A Short Introduction. Retrieved from https://www.itdp.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/DEALSGEN.pdf

·         Gender and transport. Retrieved from https://www.unece.org/trans/theme_gender.html

·         Crespo-Sancho, C. (2015, September 18). Gender equality in transport is good for business: Suggestions to ensure successful gender mainstreaming. Retrieved from http://blogs.worldbank.org/transport/gender-equality-transport-good-business-suggestions-ensure-successful-gender-mainstreaming

·         Image, https://medium.com/writing-india/women-on-bikes-how-bullets-are-challenging-gender-stereotypes-b074d6971861

·         Image, https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rickshaw

NEPA & Transportation

NEPA stands for the National Environmental Policy Act. NEPA is considered an umbrella policy, in which several policies, laws, and acts fall underneath it. Some of these laws are the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, and many more. The goal of NEPA is to establish environmental federal standards that all states must comply with. Enacted in 1970, NEPA was founded due to a series of several events. Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring, brought about a movement of environmental awareness and public support for environmentalism. At the same time, the National Highway System was also being built, establishing a network of roads that frequently blasted through communities and ecosystems alike, much to the chagrin of United States citizens.

An important distinction to make here is that NEPA and the EPA are separate – they are not one in the same, although they were established at the same time. The EPA is a governmental organization while NEPA is a collection of laws and policies. In short, the EPA enforces NEPA (among other agencies). Another important government organization that’s related to NEPA is the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Both of these are important in the process of planning and implementation of roadways.

In a 2016 act, USDOT passed the responsibilities of the FHWA to the Florida Department of Transportation, giving the state approval authority under NEPA. This means that the state of Florida is now able to govern most of its own planning and construction.

The planning process begins with the PEL process – Planning and Environmental Linkages. This process is done at the outset of a project in order to see what is needed in an area and how best to improve something. It is essentially the research that occurs before a project is fully formed. It is important to note that the research done during this period expires after five years. This means that NEPA has five years to act on this information or the research will have to be done once more.

Once the project has been planned, it must go through an Environmental Assessment. Projects can be exempted from this process through Categorical Exemption if there is no significant impact upon the environment or community, and with approval from the FHWA and other acting organizations. If there is some significant impact or the impact is unknown, the Environmental Assessment is continued. This can go one of two ways: there could be no significant impact, in which the proper documentation is filed, and the project is continued; or there is a significant impact. At this point, an EIS is filed – an Environmental Impact Statement. This statement requires that further research is done to determine the extent of the impact done to the environment if the project was continued as is. It also includes alternatives and solutions for the project that could be taken in order to reduce the impact. After this, there is a period that the draft is open for public comment, which is available for 45 days at a minimum. After that period, the final draft is published, and the project must wait another 30 days before the final decision is made. It is important to note here that NEPA does not require actual action, just that the project is aware of its impact and that the public has been notified about it.

Controversies surrounding NEPA have become more and more common, as NEPA has slowed projects considerably. There have been several arguments that it is contributing to the US’s crumbling infrastructure as it complicates redoing massive structures. President Trump is interested in streamlining this process and cutting the average 5 year permit wait-time down to 2 years, although there are arguments that his plan undercuts NEPA’s power. 

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