Aditi and Justine are interested in studying the fairness and equity effects of mobility pricing in the Vancouver context. By looking at other equity studies from cities that have implemented similar road pricing schemes, we hope to determine if the burden of road pricing falls disproportionately on marginalized communities.
Our estimation strategy uses two main datasets: census tract data and transport survey data. Using the census data, our methodology will begin with a “shortest-path” analysis of journeys that use a 1km+ segment through areas affected by mobility pricing. We then would link the impacted census tract origin-destination pairs back to the transport survey and stratify the impacted commuter population by demographics such as income, age, gender, employment, and ethnicity. Much of the existing literature on the equity effects of congestion pricing focuses on income, affording us a great opportunity to expand the current equity lens and examine road pricing in an intersectional capacity beyond income status.