{{Short description|Area lacking in transit}} [[File:Toronto transit access to jobs 2550x1650.png|thumb|upright=1.6|Access to jobs by public transit in Toronto in 2016; note that the map does not include the extension of the western leg of Line 1 Yonge–University to the suburban municipality of Vaughan to the north-northwest, which opened in late 2017|alt=]] A '''transit desert''' is an area with limited transportation supply.<ref name="Dillivan">{{cite journal |last1=Jiao |first1=Junfeng |last2=Dillivan |first2=Maxwell |title=Transit Deserts: The Gap between Demand and Supply |journal=Journal of Public Transportation |date=September 2013 |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=23–39 |doi=10.5038/2375-0901.16.3.2|url=http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1054&context=jpt |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Jiao2017">{{cite journal |last1=Jiao |first1=Junfeng |title=Identifying transit deserts in major Texas cities where the supplies missed the demands |journal=Journal of Transport and Land Use |date= 12 January 2017 |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=529–540 |doi=10.5198/jtlu.2017.899 |doi-access=free |pmid=37928653 |hdl=11299/191030 |hdl-access=free |pmc=10624511 }}</ref> Developed from the concept of food deserts, various methods have been proposed to measure transit deserts. Transit deserts are generally characterized by poor public transportation options and possibly poor bike, sidewalk, or road infrastructure.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bischak |first1=Chris |last2=Jiao |first2=Junfeng |title=People are stranded in 'transit deserts' in dozens of US cities |url=http://theconversation.com/people-are-stranded-in-transit-deserts-in-dozens-of-us-cities-92722 |website=The Conversation |date=13 March 2018 |accessdate=8 July 2018 |language=en}}</ref> The lack of transportation options present in transit deserts may have negative effects of people’s health, job prospects, and economic mobility.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Jiao |first1=Junfeng |last2=McGrath |first2=Nicole |title=Stranded in our own communities: Transit deserts make it hard for people to find jobs and stay healthy |url=https://theconversation.com/stranded-in-our-own-communities-transit-deserts-make-it-hard-for-people-to-find-jobs-and-stay-healthy-77450 |website=The Conversation |date=26 July 2017 |publisher=The Conversation US Inc. |accessdate=8 July 2018 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Bouchard |first1=Mikayla |title=Transportation Emerges as Crucial to Escaping Poverty |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/07/upshot/transportation-emerges-as-crucial-to-escaping-poverty.html |newspaper=The New York Times |accessdate=8 July 2018 |language=en|date=2015-05-07 }}</ref><ref name="stranded">{{cite web |last1=Williams P. |first1=Joseph |title=Stranded Without Transit |url=https://www.usnews.com/news/healthiest-communities/articles/2018-04-24/transit-deserts-a-growing-problem-in-the-us |website=US News |publisher=U.S. News & World Report |accessdate=8 July 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://soa.utexas.edu/transit-deserts|title=Research Shows Transit Deserts Make it Difficult to Find Jobs, Access Medical Care {{!}} Texas Architecture {{!}} UTSOA|website=soa.utexas.edu|language=en|access-date=2018-08-13}}</ref>
==History== The term 'desert' has been variously applied to areas that lack key services like banks, food access, or even books.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Neuman |first1=Susan B. |last2=Moland |first2=Naomi |title=Book Deserts |journal=Urban Education |volume=54 |pages=126–147 |date=5 July 2016 |doi=10.1177/0042085916654525 |s2cid=147841185 |language=en |issn=0042-0859}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Wallace |first1=Lewis |title='Banking Deserts' Spread Across Low-Income Neighborhoods |url=https://www.npr.org/2013/11/13/244947836/dayton-ohio-is-latest-area-suffering-from-banking-desert |website=NPR.org |date=13 November 2013 |publisher=National Public Radio |accessdate=8 July 2018 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cummins |first1=Steven |last2=Macintyre |first2=Sally |title="Food deserts"—evidence and assumption in health policy making |journal=BMJ: British Medical Journal |date=24 August 2002 |volume=325 |issue=7361 |pages=436–8 |pmid=12193363 |pmc=1123946 |issn=0959-8138 |doi=10.1136/bmj.325.7361.436}}</ref> The idea of transit deserts was coined by Junfeng Jiao and Maxwell Dillivan, first appearing in print in 2013.<ref name="Dillivan"/> Since that time, the concept of transit deserts has been expanded upon and competing definitions and measurement techniques have emerged.
==Definitions== ===Gap-based measurements=== Gap-based measurement techniques are the most prominent and well-defined definition of transit deserts. Such methods typically use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) based methods to measure the gap between transportation supply and demand. These methods quantify demand and supply and then subtract demand from supply in order to find the "gap" in transit service.<ref name="Jiao2017" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Transit Deserts in Cook County |url=https://www.cnt.org/sites/default/files/publications/CNT_TransitDesertsCookCounty_0.pdf |publisher=The Center for Neighborhood Technology |accessdate=8 July 2018}}</ref> Areas that fall below a certain threshold are termed "transit deserts". Using this method studies have found that nearly all cities in the United States have transit deserts.<ref>{{cite web |title=Transit Gap Finder |url=https://alltransit.cnt.org/gap-finder/ |website=AllTransit |publisher=The Center for Neighborhood Technology |accessdate=8 July 2018 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Transit Desert Research - Urban Information Lab - University of Texas at Austin |url=http://www.transitdeserts.org/ |website=www.transitdeserts.org |publisher=The Urban Information Lab |language=en}}</ref> Studies have also consistently shown that central business districts are almost never transit deserts, but the locations of transit desert areas varies considerably in different cities.<ref name="Dillivan" /><ref name="Jiao2017" />
===No-transit definition=== A more informal definition of transit deserts has also emerged in which areas that lack some type of transportation, most often public transportation like buses and subway stops, are termed transit deserts.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Goldchain |first1=Michelle |title=Where D.C.'s households are most underserved by transit, mapped |url=https://dc.curbed.com/2018/2/7/16985720/transit-map-dc-gap-finder |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180407192959/https://dc.curbed.com/2018/2/7/16985720/transit-map-dc-gap-finder |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 7, 2018 |website=Curbed DC |publisher=Vox Media |accessdate=8 July 2018|date=2018-02-07 }}</ref> Sometimes this definition has been expanded or slightly redefined to refer areas that lack a certain type of transportation such as "subway deserts".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Misra |first1=Tanvi |title=A New Map of New York's 'Subway Deserts' |url=https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2016/07/a-new-map-of-new-yorks-subway-deserts/491156/ |newspaper=Bloomberg |date=13 July 2016 |publisher=The Atlantic Monthly Group |accessdate=8 July 2018}}</ref>
==Implications== The causes of transit deserts are much debated. Some have cited suburban sprawl and deliberately segregationist policies as some of the leading causes of transit deserts.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Allen Jones |first1=Diana |title=Lost in the Transit Desert: Race, Transit Access, and Suburban Form |date=27 July 2017 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-138-95424-3}}</ref><ref name="stranded" /> Still others contend that transit deserts are often the result of poor planning practices and that better transit planning can help alleviate them.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Junfeng |first1=Jiao |title=Better planning can transform "transit deserts" |url=https://www.star-telegram.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/other-voices/article183513566.html |website=star-telegram |publisher=Fort-Worth Star Telegram |accessdate=8 July 2018 |language=en}}</ref>
==Examples== {{see|List of countries by rail transport network size#Countries without active network}} {{see|List of countries by road network size}}
==See also== {{div col}} '''General:''' * Banking desert * Book desert *Exurb * Food desert *Forced rider *Ghetto tax *Isochrone map * Medical desert * Poverty map * Redlining *Urban resilience *Urban prairie '''Transport:''' *Accessibility (transport) *{{Annotated link|Automotive city}} *{{Annotated link|Carfree city}} *Freedom of movement *{{Annotated link|Freedom Riders}} *{{Annotated link|Montgomery bus boycott}} *{{Annotated link|Public transport accessibility level}} *{{Annotated link|Sustainable Development Goal 11}} *{{Annotated link|Transit mall}} *{{Annotated link|Transport divide}} {{div col end}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{url|http://transitdeserts.info/|Transit Deserts in Major US Cities}} * {{url|https://sites.utexas.edu/uil/transit-deserts/|UT Austin Transit Desert Index}}
Category:Freedom of movement Category:Economic geography Category:Transportation planning Category:Urban decay Category:Car culture Category:Neighbourhoods by type Category:Transport controversies