An American Looks at Social Exclusion in a Comparative Context

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An American Looks at Social Exclusion in a
Comparative Context

• Lessons for Australia
• from Abroad

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• Dr. Sandra Rosenbloom
• Professor of Planning
• University of Arizona
• rosenblo_at_u.arizona.edu

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Overview

• The Costs of Social Exclusion
• Defining and Deconstructing Transport Social
  Exclusion
• Social Exclusion in the USA context
• Passing the So What? test

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Costs of Transport Social Exclusion

• Elderly depression, loneliness, isolation
• Pregnant women inadequate pre- natal care
• Low income families under- and unemployment,
  inadequate medical other care for children,
  lack of access to reasonable grocery options

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But many aspects of social exclusion

• Are complex and complicated
• Involve cultural and generational attitudes,
  preferences, beliefs and norms
• Are often defined by the service providers and
  not the clients
• Can rarely be solved by transport provision alone

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Deconstructing Transport Social Exclusion

• Whats the role of income?
• Do you have to be poor?
• If youre poor is it automatic?
• Can the needs of one group conflict with
  another?
• What if your choices are to blame?
• Living in the suburbs?
• Depending on a car?

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Where Older Americans Live, 2003
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What will you do when you can no longer drive?

• If I havent got a drivers licence, well I
  dont know what would happen. Im afraid to think
  about it, I really am. (Male driver, 79, market
  town)
• It would drive me nuts to stop driving
  because...I need a car. (Male driver, 74, centre
  Birmingham)
• It would be like losing your legs. (Male
  driver, 77, centre Sheffield).

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UK Drivers What will you do when you cant drive?

• Who knows? (Male driver, 72)
• Cross that bridge when I come to it. (Female
  driver, 69)
• Keep going. (Male driver, 79)

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Do Older Women Create Their Own Immobility?

• Driving less they lack experience lacking
  experience they lack confidence and drive even
  less and
• Are unable to provide their own mobility when
  their partner dies or retires from driving
• Give up driving earlier and perhaps before they
  need to

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Why Dont Men and Women Drivers Have the Same
Experience?

• My husband always tells me what Im doing
  wrongnot turning the right way or waiting too
  long. Its just easier to let him drive although
  heswell hes not as good as he used to be. I
  just close my eyes and pray (laughs).
• Sheffield woman 78

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• Lots of women leave it to their husband to drive
  and they get out of the habit of driving and when
  something happens to the husband, its, oh dear,
  Ive still got my licence but I havent got the
  confidence. (Female driver, 71, Birmingham)

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• When I was 70, I just gave it up...well my
  husband was alive then and he used to tell me I
  couldnt drive. (Female former driver, now 79,
  Birmingham)

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• I wish I hadnt given up my licence. My husband
  died 9 years ago so I was left alone then. And we
  hadnt got a car and I didnt have the means to
  get another one but I do wish that I had kept my
  licence and I would probably have gone on
  driving. (Female former driver, Birmingham, now
  78)

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• My husband always drove, so it wasnt any need
  for me to drive...well he did all the
  driving...After my husband died I moved out
  here...my brother lives here...And I said to him
  well I think Ill get a car and he said Oh no
  you wont. He says youre not going to drive
  out here in Tucson...anywhere you wanna go, Ill
  take you.
• Tucson woman 71

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Deconstructing Transport Social Exclusion

• Are all travel differences indicative of social
  exclusion?
• Is it geography, race, ethnicity or income that
  define or cause social exclusion?

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The USA Context

• Issues covered
• Discrimination and Equity
• Aging and Disability
• Poverty and Unemployment
• Underutilization of necessary services

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USA Rationale

• Redressing past inequities
• Ending generations of welfare dependency
• Facilitating employment opportunities
• Increasing necessary service utilization
• Lowering medical costs

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Civil Rights Act, 1965

• No one can be denied the benefits of Federally
  funded programs based on suspect categories
  eg race, ethnicity, origin
• Transit systems can not discriminate
• Transit systems must annually report the extent
  of services to disadvantaged groups

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Environmental Justice

• Strong evidence that disadvantaged groups
• bear a disproportionate share of negative
  environmental impacts from certain projects while
  they
• Receive disproportionately smaller benefits
• Transportation projects are especially problematic

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The Americans with Disabilities Act, 1990

• Equal access to government programs
• Buses, stations, facilities must be accessible
  to 100 of people with disabilitiesand their
  mobility aids
• Complementary paratransit parallel to bus routes
  with NO capacity constraints

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The Downside of the ADA

• Creates incentives to reduce fixed route service
• Pits the elderly against those with
  disabilities
• Reduces resources available for additional
  conventional services
• Creates disincentives to providing quality
  paratransit

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Welfare-to-Work Programs

• Both transportation and other programs provide
  temporary transport service to people
  transitioning from welfare to employment
• A variety of methods from transit passes to car
  allowances

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Other US Programs and Initiatives

• Older Americans Act
• Allows funds to be used for transport in support
  of agency goals no fares may be charged
• Medicaid (medical services for the poor)
• Requires transport for those who need it to
  access medical services
• 60 70 government programs
• Allow funds to be used for transport in service
  of agency goals

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Current US Policy Debates

• Road pricing congestion charges
• What are the impacts on low income families and
  especially women workers?
• Sanctions or disincentives to driving alone to
  work
• What are the impacts on low income families and
  especially women workers?

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So what?

• Social exclusion issues are complicated and
  multi-faceted
• The challenge is to provide an appropriate
  response without further marginalizing the
  already marginalized

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The Partnership with the User

• Need the full involvement of the people WITH and
  NOT for whom were planning
• Requires a balance between the expert and the
  user
• Avoids a solution searching for a problem
• Enhances rather than complicates peoples own
  strategies for mobility

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Experts v. Users EU SIZE Project 8 Countries

• Poor and disabled v. diverse and active
• Need services in-home v. wanting to go out and
  care for their own needs
• Require separate special transport services v.
  wanting accessible buses and transport facilities

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Users v Experts Bottom Line

• The SIZE researchers concluded that experts
  were, in a sense, mislead because the actual
  views and perspectives of seniors were not much
  reflected in the literature they read and on
  which they based their recommendations. (UK
  Older Driver Study)

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More Implications

• Finding the right role for the private sector
• Genuine competition may deliver better services
  to users
• The market excels at offering choices
• BUT the search for profit can lead drivers to
  cheat or abuse riders

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And finally

• A hard job developing institutional
  partnerships
• Overcoming institutional inertia and barriers
• A harder job embracing new paradigms being
  open to genuine innovation