An equitable transition to a zero-carbon transport system requires that all segments of society benefit, including lower-income and disadvantaged communities. Although Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11.2 centers on providing access to sustainable transport systems for all, it is equally important to measure the level of access to sustainable mobility for lower-income and disadvantaged communities.
This could take the form of equitable access to public transport, accounting for factors such as ethnicity and socio-economic status. Although no global dataset has been identified, some regions provide illustrative examples. For example, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Equitable Transportation Community Explorer estimates that 35% of census tracts (4,000 people each) in the United States are transportation disadvantaged.
Many communities, not only those in developing countries, rely on the informal transport sector, such as microbuses and motorcycles, for their mobility. Informal systems play an important role in serving residents’ mobility needs, and documenting access to these systems can help inform planning and interventions to improve safety and security and better address environmental challenges.
Access to green mobility may also relate to public charging infrastructure for electric vehicles (EVs) used by renters, residents in multi-unit dwellings or residents without dedicated parking in lower-income and disadvantaged communities. The access gap to public EV charging stations for Black and Hispanic communities in the U.S. is well-documented in New York, California and Chicago.
Comprehensive, high-resolution modeling evaluating the environmental justice and energy equity of the nationwide EV charging infrastructure in the U.S. is being developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), but no aggregate indicators have been identified. As EV penetration increases in a growing number of countries, equity issues in access to EV infrastructure could grow if these discrepancies are not addressed.