Personal Stories Illustrate Transportation Inequities in Minnesota

Research led by Humphrey School's Yingling Fan details 'how it feels when you can’t get to the places you need to go.'
June 21, 2023
A woman stands at a bus stop
Photo: Metro Transit

Transportation research is often about numbers. In a recent study, however, University of Minnesota researchers looked beyond the data to hear the transportation experiences of real people from underserved communities in Minnesota.

Their project, led by Professor Yingling Fan of the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, was part of the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) Advancing Transportation Equity initiative.  

“Our new definition of equity acknowledges that the transportation system and agency decisions have underserved, excluded, harmed, and overburdened some communities,” said Lisa Austin, transportation program supervisor of MnDOT’s Center for Community Connections. “The experiences collected through this research are powerful and often heart-wrenching stories of how it feels when you can’t get to the places you need to go.”

Portrait of Yingling Fan
Professor Yingling Fan. Photo: Bruce Silcox

The research team discussed the project at a May 1 event at the Humphrey School, called Our Transportation, Our Lives. Six Humphrey School students, each focused on the transportation challenges faced by a specific underserved community, presented their preliminary findings. 

Fan began by describing a new way to conceptualize transportation: as a socially constructed entity. 

“Transportation manifests the societal structures and cultural assumptions that are constructed by the dominant race or culture,” she said. “Therefore, it’s critical to make the perspective of socially marginalized groups—rather than those of the dominant race or culture—the central axis.”

In many underserved communities, Fan continued, the embedded power structure in transportation inhibits people from living a good life—whether that means getting to a job, the grocery store, a park, or a spiritual activity. “Our project illustrates the role transportation plays in people’s lives,” she said.

While researching the transportation experiences of Black community members, public policy student Samuel Benda saw this reality firsthand. 

“Lack of transportation to get to employment was an issue for almost all the participants I spoke with,” said Benda.  “Losing or dropping a job because they couldn’t get there often came at a time in their lives when they really needed a job that pays well.”

For example, a young Black woman he interviewed described her experience waiting for the bus after a 16-hour shift in the winter: "I was waiting for the bus and the bus didn’t come for an hour, and it was freezing cold outside and there was snow everywhere, and I was so tired.” 

Poster displayed at a transportation inequities discussion
Photo: Bruce Silcox

The other underserved groups that were studied are Hmong Americans, single mothers, immigrants, people living with HIV, and Native Americans. 

By exploring the experiences of those in each group, researchers identified shared challenges as well as the unique needs for each community. 

For example, while safety—or lack thereof—was a shared experience for these groups, the need to make multiple stops (known as trip chaining) was important for single mothers; driving was important for caregiving and connection in the Hmong community; and access to healthy food was a challenge for White Earth Nation tribal members.

The final research report, planned for publication this summer, will include findings and recommendations for four additional communities: Latinx, people with disabilities, the Fergus Falls (rural) community, and single fathers.

MnDOT will use the findings and recommendations in its ongoing efforts to advance transportation equity. The findings are already being used in related training, Austin said.

The study—Improving Transportation Equity for All by Centering the Margins: The Transportation Experience of Underserved Communities—was sponsored by MnDOT and the Minnesota Local Road Research Board.

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Adapted from a story originally published by the Center for Transportation Studies

Related: CTS, Yingling Fan Will Lead $6 Million Federal Project to Address Transportation Insecurity