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

ward@cutr.eng.usf.edu

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.

 

Week 12, 15 November 2001:  Transportation Equity:  Race, Poverty, & Transportation

 

Readings:

Lewis, Tom

1997 Revolt.  Pp.  179-210.  Busting the Trust.  Pp.  211-238.  In Divided Highways. New York: Penguin Books.

 

Taylor, Brian D. and Michael Maush

 1996 Gender, Race, and Travel Behavior: An Analysis of Household-Serving travel and Community in the San Francisco Bay Area.  In Women’s Travel Issues:  Proceedings from the Second National Conference. October. Pp. 371-406.  Electronic document.  http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/womens/ chap20.pdf.

 

Mann, Eric

1997 Confronting Transit Racism in Los Angeles.  In Dismantling Race and Class Barriers to Mobility. Bullard, Robert D. and Glenn S.Johnson, eds. Pp. 121-144.

 

 

 

Week 13, 22 November 2001:  USF Thanksgiving Break

 

 

Week14, 29 November 2001:  Short-term and Long-term Policy and Program Implications

 

Readings:

 

Niemeier, Deb

1996 Linking Social Context with Transportation Planning and Funding.  In Women’s Travel Issues:  Proceedings from the Second National Conference. October. Pp. 675-688.  Electronic document. http://www.fhwa.dot. gov/ohim/womens/chap36.pdf.

 

Dittmar, Hank

1996 From Wooing Soccer Moms to Demonizing Welfare Mothers: A Legislative and  Policy Context for Women’s Travel. In Women’s Travel Issues: Proceedings from  Second National Conference. October. Pp. 665-672.  Electronic document.  http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/womens/chap35.pdf.

 

 

 

Week 15, 6 December 2001:     Project Presentations

 

Community Projects Due

 

 

 

Bibliography

 

Besharov, Douglas

   1995   Using Work to Reform Welfare.  Public Welfare.  53(3).

 

Blumenberg, Evelyn and Paul Ong

   1997   Can Welfare Recipients Afford to Work Far from Home?  Access 10(Spring).

 

BRW, Inc. and Biko Associates

1997 Public Transportation, Jobs, and Welfare Reform Study: Final Report.  Minneapolis:Wisconsin Urban Transit Association, Wisconsin Department of Transportation, and Federal Highway Administration.

 

Brock, William R.

   1998   Welfare, Democracy, and the New Deal.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

 

Bullard, Robert D. and Glenn S. Johnson, eds.

1997 Just Transportation:  Dismantling Race and Class Barriers to Mobility.  Gabriola Island, BC:  New Society Publishers.

 

Cammisa, Anne Marie

   1998   From Rhetoric to Reform?  Boulder: Westview Press.

 

Community Transportation Association of America

1999 Access to Jobs Resources.  Washington, DC: CTAA.  Electronic document.  http://www.ctaa.org/ntrc/atj/resources.shtml.

 

Corbett, Thomas

1995 Changing the Culture of Welfare.  Focus 16:2.  Electronic document. gopher://gopher.ssc.wisc.edu:7000...ications/focus/16.2.a/changing.gfr.

 

Coulton, Claudia J. et alia

1996 Time Limited Welfare and the Employment Prospects of AFDC Recipients in Cuyahoga County:  A Baseline Technical Report.  Cleveland: Center on Urban Poverty and Social Change, Case Western Reserve University.

 

 


Coulton, Claudia J. et alia

1996 Geographic Concentration of Affluence and Poverty in 100 Metropolitan Areas, 1990.  Urban Affairs Review.  32(2).

 

DeParle, Jason

   1997   Getting Opal Caples to Work.  New York Times Magazine.  August 24.

 

Dittmar, Hank

1996   Welfare Reform, Sprawl, and Transportation.  Surface Transportation Policy Project Progress.  October.

 

Gueron, Judith M.

1987   Reforming Welfare with Work.  Occasional Paper Number Two, Ford Foundation Project on Social Welfare and the American Future.  New York: Ford Foundation.

 

Haughton, Rosemary and Nancy Schwoyer

1995   Welfare Reform and National Scapegoating: The Politics of Fear.  Cross Currents. 45(Spring). 80-94.

 

Hughes, Mark Alan

1995   Urban Employment Growth Patterns in Nine Large Metropolitan Areas, 1977-1987.  Lincoln Institute of Land Policy Research Papers.   Lincoln Institute Product Code: WP95MH1.  Cambridge, MA: The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.

 

Kaplan, April

1997a   Transportation and Welfare Reform.  Issue Notes.  May.  Washington, DC: Welfare Information Network.  Electronic document.  http://www.welfareinfo.org/transita.htm.

 

1997b     Lessons Learned.  Community Transportation Reporter.  May/June.  Washington, DC: Community Transportation Association of America.  Electronic document.  http://www.ctaa.org/ct/mayjune97/lessons.htm.

 

Lang, Robert E.

2000 Office Sprawl:  The Evolving Geography of Business.  Brookings Institute.  Electronic document.  http://www.brookings.org/es/urban/officesprawl/Lang.pdf.

 

Linton, Gordon J.

1993   Keynote Address.  Reverse Commute Seminar, New Orleans, LA.  Washington, DC: American Public Transit Association and the Ford Foundation.

 

Maguire, Lambert

   1983   Understanding Social Networks.  Beverly Hills: Sage Publications.

 

McCrate, Elaine and Laura Leete

1994   Black-White Wage Differences Among Young Women, 1977-86.  Industrial Relations.  33(2): 168-183.

 

Mead, Lawrence

   1996   Welfare Reform at Work.  Society. 33(5).

 

Pugh, Margaret

1998 Barriers to Work:  The Spatial Divide between Jobs and Welfare Recipients in Metropolitan Areas.  A Discussion Paper Prepared for the Brookings Institution.  Electronic document.  http://www.brookings.org/es/urban/mismatch.pdf.

 

Rabin, Yale

1987   Metropolitan Decentralization, Transit Dependence, and the Employment Isolation of Central City Black Workers.  Washington, DC: Urban Institute and the Ford Foundation.

 

Rich, Michael and Joseph Coughlin

1998   The Spatial Distribution of Economic Opportunities:  Access and Accessibility Issues for Welfare in Metropolitan Atlanta.  Draft.  94th Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers.  Boston, MA, March 28.

 

Society for the Advancement of Education

   1996    Reform Job Creation, Not Welfare.  USA Today Magazine. 125(2616).

 

Stanfield, Rochelle L.

    1996   The Reverse Commute.  National Journal.  November 23.  Market.  Human Events. 52(42).

 

Welfare Law Center

1996 Welfare Myths: Fact or Fiction? Exploring the Truth About Welfare.  New York: Welfare Law Center.  Electronic document.  http://www.welfarelaw.org/myth7.html.

 

Wright, Beverly

 1997   New Orleans Neighborhoods Under Siege. In Dismantling Race and Class Barriers to Mobility. Bullard, Robert D. and Glenn S.Johnson. Eds. Pp. 121-144.

 

Yates, Jessica

1998 Partnerships With the Faith Community in Welfare Reform.  Welfare Information Network (WIN) Notes.  Washington, DC: Welfare Information Network.  Electronic document.  http://www.welfareinfo.org/faith.htm.