Assessing inequalities on public transport affordability in two latin American cities: Montevideo (Uruguay) and Córdoba (Argentina)

Urban Transport and Poverty: Mobility and Accessibility Effects of IDB-supported BRT Systems in Cali and Lima

“…Observed affordability focuses on actual travel behaviors. The traditional observed affordability index calculates household expenditure on transportation or public transportation as a share of disposable income (Falavigna and Hernandez 2016). 16 Other affordability measures utilize monthly household expenditure instead of income (Blumenberg 2003) given that, especially among low-income populations, income might be relatively unstable from month to month, whereas expenditure is more stable and a better measure of a family's economic well-being since households tend to smooth consumption (Diaz-Olvera, Plat, and Pochet 2008).…”

“…Therefore, affordability can be particularly inaccurate for the lowest-income populations, who may not take trips because of financial constraints (Falavigna and Hernandez 2016). To address this limitation, some experts suggest the use of a potential affordability measure, or fixed-basket-trips measure.…”

“…To address this limitation, some experts suggest the use of a potential affordability measure, or fixed-basket-trips measure. This estimates the number of public transit trips a household would take if they were not sacrificing any necessary trips (Falavigna and Hernandez 2016), and divides this value by some measurement of income or expenditure. For example, Carruthers, Dick, and Saurkar (2005) compute affordability based on the assumption of 60 trips per month, which includes commuting to work plus a number of additional trips, multiplied by the public transit fare per trip.…”

“…Another method is to calculate the average number of trips taken by members of the third income quintile (the middle class), under the assumption that those individuals do not forgo any trip because of financial constraints, nor do they tend to take trips that are purely recreational as the fourth and fifth quintiles might (Falavigna and Hernandez 2016). The key limitation of most potential affordability measures is that they fail to account for differing household compositions (Falavigna and Hernandez 2016).…”

“…The key limitation of most potential affordability measures is that they fail to account for differing household compositions (Falavigna and Hernandez 2016). 18 Other studies: transportation expenditures as a share of income were 6.4% for the bottom income quintile and 3.8% for the general population in Montevideo, Uruguay (Falavigna and Hernandez 2016).…”