Public transport has to attract more prosperous clients to turn the decline. Not only appearance, but also who’s using public transport, determine status and image. Gentrification has contributed to stopping the decline of residential areas in cities. The combination of favourable economic conditions and attracting people from higher cultural status, such as artists, has attracted prosperous newcomers on the housemarket. As a result other people have been attracted to this residential area. The principles of gentrification can also be applied to public transport by increasing economical and cultural capital. On the one hand by deploying public transport as medium to gentrify a residential area. On the other hand by gentrifying public transport itself. Starting the process of gentrification requires more differentiation, because individuals want to position themselves as part of a social group. That requires more special facilities with restricted accessibility. Wealthy classes can then be tempted to use public transport and by this improving the image of public transport. If we don’t want to employ public transport only for social purposes, this implies that we have to decrease the inclination to uniform public transport and allow more differentiation. (Author/publisher)
Abstract