Dimensiones sociales y espaciales del transporte público masivo evaluadas mediante técnicas de análisis espacial y métodos multicriterio. El caso del área metropolitana de Guadalajara, México.

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Traveling is a fundamental right of democratic societies and provides opportunities for the social, economic and cultural development that the city offers. Mobility is largely determined by transport systems and their relationship with the urban environment, by people's socioeconomic conditions, and by the location and relevance of opportunities. In metropolitan contexts with structural inequities, access to mass transportation systems is limited. This increases vulnerability and contributes to social exclusion related to transport. This exclusion, in turn, leads to an increase in inequality and poverty. This dissertation contributes to the comprehension of the underlying social and spatial dimensions of public transport (PT) in Latin American metropolises. The general hypothesis was that the social and spatial dimensions of mass public transport can be estimated through accessibility, specifically by identifying areas with different degrees of transport related social exclusion through open-access data and spatial and multi-criteria analyses. To prove the hypothesis, a quantitative methodology was proposed to estimate access to PT as an indicator of social exclusion, and designed for contexts with financial and technical limitations. This was applied to the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area (GMA), Mexico, addressing structural problems intrinsic to transportation, such as social inequality, urban sprawl and poor air quality, as social and spatial dimensions of PT. Is the mass transit system adequate to meet the social needs of transportation? Does the spatial distribution of PT stations provide access to vulnerable groups? What are the conditions of the urban environment when active mode users commute? To answer these and other questions, this dissertation proves theoretical and methodological concepts in the study area mentioned above. Thus, it shows empirical findings to contribute to the comprehension of the role of PT in the context of urban complexity. This document is structured using three empirical case studies (CS) published in high-impact international academic journals. In addition to the specific findings in each case, this research confirms High degrees of social exclusion related to transport in the metropolitan area studied. Results of the first CS show that reduced mobility, illiteracy, unemployment and income are variables that largely define the social needs of transportation in the metropolis. In addition, it was observed that the mass transit system scarcely served the social needs of transportation in the periphery and some central areas. The second CS highlights that users of sustainable transport are exposed to episodes of poor air quality in a small proportion of trips. In addition, the limited generation of open-access data produced by authorities from the transport and environmental sectors is confirmed. The findings of the third CS show that the university group is in transport disadvantage compared to other groups in the city, thus they suffer from transport related social exclusion. The three CS prove that the social and spatial dimensions of transport can be estimated with open-access data, spatial analysis and multicriteria. In particular, the relevance of using simplified cumulative methods to estimate access to public transport for contexts with technical and financial limitations is confirmed. The results provide empirical evidence for public policies in the urban planning and transportation sectors, as a complement to social and economic policies that promote social inclusion and development in Latin American cities.