Department of Environmental
Science and Policy
Public Transportation Policy and
Poor Women’s Travel Issues
EVR
6934-902
Fall
2001
Thursdays (Rs) 6:00-8:50
PM
CUT 207
Beverly G. Ward, PhD,
MPA
Center for Urban Transportation
Research, CUT 142
(813)
974-9773
Office hours: Wednesdays (Ws) 3:00-5:30
PM
and by
appointment
Course
Description: Research suggests that there are major
differences in the travel patterns of men and women and that there are
substantial differences among subgroups of women. The differences among the subgroups may
be greater than aggregate differences.
One subgroup of concern is low-income women. The travel patterns of low-income women
are of increasing concern due to legislation related to welfare reform and
access to jobs. This course is designed to have students consider the travel
needs of low-income women and their families; investigate the planning and
policy implications of these needs; and explore the interlinked transportation,
economic, social, environmental, and land use constraints facing women and their
families. The need for addition
research also will be considered.
Texts and Other Resource
Materials: Readings assigned by
instructor.
Course
Objectives: The main objective of this course is to
provide an overview of the public policy issues and programs that affect
low-income women and their ability to find and keep employment that would allow
them and their families to become self-sufficient. Other objectives include helping
students to understand “welfare reform” legislation, public transportation
services, and the travel needs of low-income women. The course assignments are designed to
provide students with experiences in the community, providing practical
experiences for students and contributions to the community. The development of
this course was supported, in part, by the USF University Community
Initiative.
Course
Credit: Public Transportation Policy and Poor
Women’s Travel Issues (PTPPWTI) carries three hours of academic credit.
Evaluation: This course is graded on the
standard A, B, C, D, F scale used at the University of South Florida. Your grade for the course will be
determined by your participation in classroom discussions, comment papers, a
project, and a presentation.
Classroom participation 20%
Comment papers
30%
Community project
30%
Project presentation
20%
Total
100%
Requirements:
I recognize that some students will
be more comfortable than others with participation in discussions; active
listening will be considered a form of participation. Written comment papers and project
reports must be word-processed or typed.
With the exception of the first class meeting, students will be expected
to submit a 2-3 page, double-spaced comment paper on the reading assignment for
the week. (This should help you
frame issues, questions, or comments for participation in the classroom
discussions.)
The development of this
course was supported, in part, by the USF University Community Initiative. In recognition of this support 25
percent of the grade will depend on the development and implementation of a
project related to the Tampa Bay community. Projects may include research papers,
related work with a community agency, or other community-based work related to
public transportation or poor women’s travel. A 2-3 page proposal for a community
project is due Week 3 of classes.
The proposal should describe the project, clearly, anticipated results,
and anticipated benefit to the community.
Where possible, attempts should be made to include agencies that provide
public transportation or users of the services as partners in the project. (This will help to identify benefits to
the community.) If you need project
suggestions, assistance in identifying partners, or have questions, please
contact me before Week 3.
You will make a
presentation on your project and findings on the last day of class. You may use audiovisual aids. Please advise me, in advance, if you
will need a laptop, LCD projector, or other equipment available from USF
Audiovisual support that is not regularly provided in the
classroom.
Students who anticipate
the necessity of being absent from class due to major religious observances must
provide notice of the date(s) to the instructor, in writing, by the second class
meeting. In case of other absences,
please advise me beforehand, if possible.
You will be responsible for getting comment papers to me before class, if
possible. (Email is fine.) You may lose one percentage point for
classroom participation for each absence.
At the instructor’s option, extra work can be assigned to make up missed
classes.
Required Legal
Considerations: Smoking is not
permitted.
Bomb threats or power failures
will not prevent our meetings, because we will in such events meet outside the
building, near the electric/solar car station, and then proceed to an alternate
location.
Research involving human
subjects must follow established departmental, university, and professional
procedures to protect persons from possible harm or
embarrassment.
A grade of incomplete can be
given only under conditions specified in the relevant USF Catalog and only with
a contract for completion by a date certain.
Written work should conform to
the style appropriate for your discipline.
If you are not familiar with the style, please use the "Current Style
Guide" published in the American Anthropologist 97(1):191-194(1995) or
http://www.aaanet.org/pubs/style_guide.htm. Plagiarism and other forms of dishonesty
would be handled according to university, college, and departmental regulations.
Schedule – Fall
2001
Week 1, 30 August 2001: Introduction & Orientation to Public
Transportation Services and Users
Film:
Klein, James and Martha
Olson
1996 Taken for a Ride. Pittsburgh: New Day
Films.
Readings:
Rosenbloom, Sandra
1996 Trends in Women’s Travel Patterns. In
Women’s Travel Issues: Proceedings
from the Second National Conference. October. Pp.15-34. Electronic document. http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/womens/
chap2.pdf
Sarmiento, Sharon
1996 Household, Gender, and Travel. In
Women’s Travel Issues: Proceedings
from the Second National Conference. October. Pp.35-52. Electronic document. http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/womens/
chap3.pdf
Week 2, 6 September 2001: Public Transportation and Welfare Reform
Policies
Readings:
Edelman, Peter
1997 The Worst Thing Bill Clinton Has
Done. Atlantic Monthly. March. Electronic document.
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/97mar/edelman/edelman.htm.
Saltzman, Arthur
1992 Public Transportation in the 20th
Century. In George E. Gray and Lester A. Hoel. Eds. Public Transportation
2nd Ed. Pp. 24-45.
Week 3, 13 September 2001: Welfare Reform, Underemployment, and
Women
Readings:
Haskins, Ron and Wendell
Primus
2001 Welfare Reform and Poverty. Policy Brief No. 4, July. Brookins Institute. Electronic document.
http://www.brookings.org/wrb/publications/pb/pb04.htm
Ward, Beverly
G.
2000 Public Transit And Welfare-To-Work: A Paper
Exploring Issues of Access and Mobility Related to the Federal Personal
Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. Electronic document.
http://www.cutr.eng.usf.edu/pubs/public_transit_and_w2w.pdf
Project Descriptions
Due
Week 4, 20 September 2001: Welfare Reform in Florida and Florida’s
Economy
Readings:
Wolfe, Alvin W.
2000 Welfare Reform: Self-Sufficiency or
What? Practicing Anthropology 22(1):2-6.
Redfern-Vance,
Nancy
2000 Can’t Win for Losing”: The Impact of Wages on
Single Mothers in a North Tampa Community.
Practicing Anthropology 22(1):20-26.
Ward, Beverly and Rosemary
Mathias
2000
Getting to Work and Other Places the Poor Have to Go. Practicing
Anthropology 22(1):10-13.
Week 5, 27 September 2001: Spatial Mismatch: Residence, Employment Centers, and
Women
Readings:
Johnson, Ibipo
1996 Location, Race, Labor Force Participation:
Implications for Women of Color.
In Women’s Travel Issues: Proceedings from the Second National
Conference. October. Pp.
337-354. Electronic document.
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/womens/chap18.pdf.
Lafferty, Sarah and Valerie
Preston
1992 Spatial Mismatch and Labor Market Segmentation
for African American and Latina Women. Economic Geography 68-:306-431. Electronic document.
http://web2.infotrac_custom.com/pdfserve
/get_item/1/S697f97w3_16/SB943_16.pdf.
Spain,
Daphne
1996 Run, Don’t Walk: How Transportation Complicates
Women’s Balancing Act. In
Women’s Travel Issues: Proceedings from the Second National Conference. October. Pp. 271-280. Electronic document.
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/womens/chap14.pdf.
Week 6, 4 October 2001: Beyond “Work First”: Access to Training and
Education
Readings:
Hendon, Claude
2000 Workforce Development Programs in Florida:
Varied Purposes and Varied Purposes and Varied Performance. Practicing
Anthropology 22(1):14-19.
Cohen,
Maire
1998 Post-Secondary Education under Welfare
Reform. Welfare Information Network
Issue Notes. 2(8). Electronic document.
http://www.welfareinfo.org/vocational%20ed.htm.
Friedman,
Pamela
1999 Post-Secondary Education Options for Low-Income
Adults. Welfare Information Network
Issue Notes. Electronic
document.
3(12).
Week 7, 11 October 2001: Beyond “Work First”: Access to Day care and Afterschool
care
Readings:
Bianco, Martha and Catherine
Lawson
1996 Trip-Chaining, Childcare, and Personal Safety:
Critical Issues in Women’s Travel Behavior. In Women’s Travel Issues:
Proceedings from the Second National Conference. October. Pp.121-144. Electronic document.
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/womens/chap8.pdf.
Hardin, Jennifer, Alvin Wolfe
and Ruth Ott
2000 Tangled Webs of Work, Childcare,
and Transportation. Practicing Anthropology 22(1):40-43.
Week 8, 18 October 2001: Beyond “Work First”: Access to Health care
Readings:
Habin, Ronald
I.
2000 Linkages between Work and Health of Parents and
Children in the Florida WAGES Program. Practicing Anthropology
22(1):31-36.
Kramer, Fedrica
D.
2001 Screening and Assessment for Physical and
Mental Health Issues that Impact TANF Recipients’ Ability to Work. Welfare Information Network. 5(3). Electronic document. http://www.welfareinfo.org/
physicalandmentalissuenote.htm.
Whitmore, Heidi
H.
1997 Access to Health Care: Bridging the Gap Between
Policy and Research. Issue Brief
No. 8. Center for Studying Health
System Change. Electronic
document. http://www.hschange.org/
CONTENT/73/73.pdf.
Week 9, 25 October 2001: Automobile Ownership, Travel Behavior of
Low-Income Women
Readings:
Lupa, Mary
1996 Household and Trip-Making Characteristics of
Zero Vehicle Households in Northeast Illinois. In Women’s Travel Issues:
Proceedings from the Second National Conference. October. Pp. 467-475. Electronic document.
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/womens/chap24.pdf.
Murakami, Elaine and Jennifer
Young
1997 Daily Travel by Persons with Low Income. Paper for NPTS Symposium Bethesda,
MD. Originally presented with
6-month NPTS dataset at the African American Mobility Symposium, Tampa, FL. Electronic document.
http://www_cta.ornl.gov/npts/1995/Doc/LowInc.pdf.
McGuckin,
Nancy
2000 Work, Automobility, and Commuting. In Travel Patterns of People of
Color. Electronic document.
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/trvpatns.pdf.
Week 10, 1 November 2001: Understanding the Travel Needs of
Low-Income Women: Policy and Service Barriers
Film: The Honorable Alcee L. Hastings, Keynote
Address: Beyond the Horizon AAMS III
Readings:
Jeff, Gloria and Regina McElroy
1996 Women’s Travel Consequences and Opportunities.
In Women’s Travel Issues:
Proceedings from the Second National Conference. October. Pp. 79-96. Electronic document.
http://www.fhwa.dot. gov/ohim/womens/chap5.pdf.
Georgiadou, Fotini et
alia
1996 Trip Reduction Incentives: Gender Differences
and Policy Implications. In Women’s Travel Issues: Proceedings from the Second National
Conference. October. Pp. 755-789.
Electronic document. http://www.fhwa.dot.
gov/ohim/womens/chap40.pdf.
Week 11, 8 November 2001: Transportation Policies and Aging
Women
Film:
Road to the Future
Readings:
Barush, Amanda, MSW,
Ph.D.
1994 Coping with Scarcity: Personal and Practical
Challenges. Pp. 47-63. In Older Women in Poverty:
Private Lives and Public Policies.
New York: Springer
Publishing Company.
Burkhardt, Jon
E.
2000 Limitations of Mass Transportation and
Individual Vehicle Systems for Older Persons. Warner Schaie, K. and Martin
Pietrucha. Eds. In Mobility and
Transportation in the Elderly. Pp. 97-124.
Rosenbloom, Sandra
1989 Travel Patterns of Elderly Women
Alone: A Research Note. Specialized Transportation Planning and Practice. 3:
295-309.