An Exploratory Analysis of Public Transport Accessibility for the Disabled and Social Vulnerability in New York City: a GIS approach

Keywords: Urban Geography, Transport Geography, Geography of Access, Accessibility, Mobility, Social Vulnerability, GIS, Public Transport, Disability
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Monday
Session Start / End Time: 2/28/2022 09:40 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/28/2022 11:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 18

Abstract

Public transportation or mass transit systems serve as arteries of an urban transportation system in many metropolitan areas. Transport accessibility is crucial to building an inclusive society while an accessible subway system benefits all residents and tourists in metropolitan areas. According to the North America’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the average weekday ridership of New York (NYC) subway is about 5.5 million. However, only 25% of NYC subway stations have full accessibility features including ramps or elevators.
This research aims to provides an exploratory analysis in identifying hot spots of high social vulnerability and subway wheelchair inaccessibility in Manhattan using the least-cost path modelling in GIS. The result suggests that wheelchair accessible subway stations in East Harlem and Lower East Sides are at least one mile away from socially vulnerable hot spots. The walking distance from East Harlem to the nearest accessible station is the longest (43 to 53 minutes). This research offers convincing evidence that social vulnerability can be strongly associated with public transport inaccessibility in which the identification of priority areas of intervention can be achieved.