Bloustein School Ph.D. candidate Sicheng Wang is the recipient of an American Planning Association (APA) Transportation Planning Small Grant which is awarded toward support for programs or studies, social activities, new initiatives, funding speakers, or other innovative opportunities. Grants are typically a maximum of $500 and can be awarded to an individual Transportation Planning Division (TPD) member, transportation organization, government agency, student group, APA Chapter or APA Division. The applicant must be a TPD member to qualify for funding.
Wang’s study, “Is Transit Important for Single Parents?” focuses on the mode choice of transportation of single parents. Addressing this question can improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the social and political assistance for single-parent households. The hypothesis of this study is that public transit plays an important role in single parents’ lives, and that single parents are active transit riders. This study plans to use quantitative methods based on multiple datasets from the State of Maryland and involves two kinds of regression models to test the hypothesis: (1) the residence model and (2) the ridership model. The findings of this project hope to draw broader public attention to this transportation equity issue for single parent population and provide the evidence and guidance for decision makers who plan the transportation infrastructure, policies, and/or special assistance programs for this vulnerable group.