A quantitative, equitable framework for urban transportation electrification: Oakland, California as a mobility model of climate justice

This paper implements a framework that catalogs and maps opportunities at a city level to support the electrification of the transportation system in an equitable way. Leveraging on the use of hyper-local air quality data, paired with sociodemographic indicators, we evaluate the framework in the City of Oakland, CA under a context of public and private transport areas to prioritize interventions and incentives, while reducing environmental hazard exposure under an equity focus. Following the recognition of racial and socio-economic disparities, the subsequent steps of implementing operational strategies are to identify specific bus routes in the city in which decarbonization would render the highest impact with respect to the distribution of environmental burden, and to identify regions in which private vehicle interventions would render the highest impact with respect to racial and social equity and mobility.

Automated summary

This study implements a framework that supports the electrification of the transportation system in cities in an equitable way, using local air quality data and sociodemographic indicators, to prioritize interventions and incentives. The subsequent steps involve identifying specific bus routes with the highest impact on environmental burden distribution and regions with the highest impact on racial and social equity and mobility for private vehicle interventions.