PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY ›› 2020, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (1): 111-119.doi: 10.18306/dlkxjz.2020.01.011

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Impact of public transportation infrastructure on employment of the low-income group in Urumqi

ZHANG Chun1, CHENG Zhihua2, YU Xiaoping1, WANG Yaqun2, SHEN Chen1   

  1. 1. School of Architecture and Design, Beijing Jiaotong Universtiy, Beijing 100044, China
    2. Urumqi Urban Transportation Research and Project Center, Urumqi 830006, China
  • Received:2019-01-09 Revised:2019-02-07 Online:2020-01-28 Published:2020-03-28
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China(51778039);World Bank Funding(7178074)

Abstract:

Western cities in China experience large-scale, rapid, and vast-invested transport infrastructure construction, which makes it particularly important to evaluate the social economic impacts of these projects. Based on trip survey data in Urumqi in 2014 and multivariate linear regression and multinomial Logit regression model with cross variables, this study explored the impact of bus rapid transit system (BRT) on job satisfaction. The results show that measured by commuting time, employment accessibility levels are lower for the low-income group, the male, property owners, and private car drivers, while accessibility levels are higher for commuters with shorter distance to BRT stops. In terms of job satisfaction, the low-income people are likely to report lower level of job satisfaction, while those with shorter distance to BRT stop and private car drivers are likely to report higher job satisfaction. It also shows that shorter time commuters do not necessarily report higher level of job satisfaction. These results indicate that overall public transport infrastructure has a positive promoting effect on both employment accessibility and job satisfaction, but the differential impacts of individual attributes also cannot be neglected. The policy implication of this study lies in helping with making the public policy to improve employment accessibility and job satisfaction of the low-income group of urban residents, which will further promote local employment stability and regional economy growth.

Key words: public transportation, infrastructure, employment accessibility, job satisfaction, multinomial Logit model, Urumqi