{"title":"Toward equitable public transportation with pets: Accessing veterinary care under mobility constraints in Hong Kong through taxi fare analysis","authors":"Ka Yiu Ng , Keumseok Koh","doi":"10.1080/15568318.2023.2295858","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Equitable access to diverse opportunities for everyone is essential to public transportation. While the mobility for veterinary care visit is pivotal to One Health, pets and their owners often face various barriers in transportation. Despite Hong Kong’s well-received transit-oriented development, pets are strictly prohibited in the major modes of public transport, which is rarely discussed in the literature regarding equitable transportation planning. Therefore, this study examined the variation in Taxi fares to access four different types of veterinary services (<em>general</em>, <em>24/7</em>, <em>low-cost</em>, and <em>24/7 low-cost</em>) in Hong Kong using network routing and Geographic Information System. We found that most inaccessible communities to veterinary care mainly include remote rural villages. Moreover, a higher neighborhood household income was associated with a lower Taxi fare to the nearest 24/7 low-cost service in the new growth and rural areas. We further explored several policy recommendations, such as allowing pets on public transport, mobile services, and pet ambulance. Although the effect of travel costs on veterinarian-seeking behavior is inconclusive, this study showcases a novel and holistic examination of transportation barriers to veterinary care through the geographical and financial lens.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":47824,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Sustainable Transportation","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1000,"publicationDate":"2024-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Journal of Sustainable Transportation","FirstCategoryId":"5","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/org/science/article/pii/S1556831823001685","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Equitable access to diverse opportunities for everyone is essential to public transportation. While the mobility for veterinary care visit is pivotal to One Health, pets and their owners often face various barriers in transportation. Despite Hong Kong’s well-received transit-oriented development, pets are strictly prohibited in the major modes of public transport, which is rarely discussed in the literature regarding equitable transportation planning. Therefore, this study examined the variation in Taxi fares to access four different types of veterinary services (general, 24/7, low-cost, and 24/7 low-cost) in Hong Kong using network routing and Geographic Information System. We found that most inaccessible communities to veterinary care mainly include remote rural villages. Moreover, a higher neighborhood household income was associated with a lower Taxi fare to the nearest 24/7 low-cost service in the new growth and rural areas. We further explored several policy recommendations, such as allowing pets on public transport, mobile services, and pet ambulance. Although the effect of travel costs on veterinarian-seeking behavior is inconclusive, this study showcases a novel and holistic examination of transportation barriers to veterinary care through the geographical and financial lens.
期刊介绍:
The International Journal of Sustainable Transportation provides a discussion forum for the exchange of new and innovative ideas on sustainable transportation research in the context of environmental, economical, social, and engineering aspects, as well as current and future interactions of transportation systems and other urban subsystems. The scope includes the examination of overall sustainability of any transportation system, including its infrastructure, vehicle, operation, and maintenance; the integration of social science disciplines, engineering, and information technology with transportation; the understanding of the comparative aspects of different transportation systems from a global perspective; qualitative and quantitative transportation studies; and case studies, surveys, and expository papers in an international or local context. Equal emphasis is placed on the problems of sustainable transportation that are associated with passenger and freight transportation modes in both industrialized and non-industrialized areas. All submitted manuscripts are subject to initial evaluation by the Editors and, if found suitable for further consideration, to peer review by independent, anonymous expert reviewers. All peer review is single-blind. Submissions are made online via ScholarOne Manuscripts.