The Influencing Factors On The Daily Travel Of Low-income Groups In The Central Districts Of Chongqing And Its Countermeasures

With the rapid development of urbanization,the urban population is constantly increasing,the urban space is expanding continuously,and the travel distance and time of the city dwellers are correspondingly prolonged,especially the intractable travel issues of the low-income groups that is increasingly emerging.China's reform of the housing system in the 1990 s marked the commercialization era of housing.With urban land prices and housing prices rising continually and the increasing division of urban space,high-income groups continue to converge to the central area of cities,whereas,low-income groups spread to the urban fringe.Due to the spread of the marginalized habitation of low-income groups,travel,following housing,has become another issue that plagues low-income groups.This paper takes low-income groups in the central districts of Chongqing as the research object,and investigates the current situation of the low-income groups by constructing the traffic-equity analysis framework from the equity of travel tools,of travel time,of travel distance as well as of travel cost,and probes from the perspective of sociology and public management into the reasons why travel issues of the low-income groups emerge.It is found on the survey that the low-income groups are generally not satisfied with the current daily travel.The dissatisfaction mainly focuses on the scarce public transport facilities surrounding their residences and the low operating frequency of public transport.The result of the survey shows that the primary purpose of daily travel for low-income groups is to commute for work,and the vehicles of their daily travel focus on bus and rail transit.According to the distance between their residences and workplaces,the low-income groups can be categorized into three different types,namely,the split-up type whose workplace and residence are separated,the bound-up type whose workplace and residence are tied up,and other types.The the split-up type can be further classified into two,the active split-up and the negative split-up.The bound-up type consists of the one in urban fringe and in city center.Although different types of the low-income groups have various reasons for the travel issue,the three primary ones consist of the scarce public transport facilities and living facilities surrounding residences,the fragmented urban spatial structure triggered by separated community,and the sharply growing relative deprivation caused by the unbalanced supply of public transport.Accordingly,some suggestions are put forward in this paper.Firstly,it is necessary to carry out the urban planning targeting low-income groups,and plan urban affordable housing from the perspective of public services and reducing the planning and construction of separated communities in cities.Secondly,it is requisite to establish a citizen-based policy design that should introduce a citizen participation mechanism in the development of public policies related to low-income groups.Thirdly,it is imperative to increase the supply of public transport services,at the same time improving the quality of public transport services.Fourthly,it is urgent to try to build an effective integration of different means of transportation to effectively tackle the rare selection for low-income groups on the form of transport.Fifthly,it is indispensable to continuously optimize the social security system for low-income groups to make them not only the builder of urban development but also the hedonist who has a good life in a city.