Alternative Transportation Pays Dividends for Income Equality in Midsized Cities

"Looking at 148 midsize cities across the country, researchers found that income inequality declined when the percentage of commuters using some form of transportation other than single occupancy vehicles increased," reports Leah Binkowitz.

The study, by Chad Frederick and John Gilderbloom, both from the Centre for Sustainable neighborhoods at the University of Louisville, was published in October by the Local Environment journal.

The article by Binkowitz allows Frederick a chance to explain the importance of the findings, highlighted by the summary that a little bit of multi-modality goes a long way for income equality. "If you have 20 percent multimodality and go to 25 percent, you should see some very significant differences in all kinds of social outcomes," says Frederick in his own words, as quoted in the article. That reach means that transportation policy might have more impact than other policies governments could focus on to improve income equality. It also means that incremental changes can have outsized benefits.