| "When I got off the plane [from China], I got information on finding a job, and finding a house, but nothing on transportation. In fact, that is as important ... Being able to access services is key to feeling integrated and settled." |
| - M., a woman from Richmond Hill living in Canada for 2 years |
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With many new immigrants choosing to live in Canada's suburbs, I examined the experiences of immigrant women in the suburbs who use public transit, and proposed recommendations for service improvements. The ability to confidently and successfully navigate around a new environment is an often-overlooked component of the immigrant settlement experience. Little work has been done on immigrant uses of public transit, and since women in particular are responsible for a larger share of domestic responsibilities, I focused on public transit trips made by new immigrant mothers for household and childcare tasks. I conducted semi-structured interviews with recently arrived women from China who live with their families in the Toronto suburbs of North York, Scarborough, Markham, and Richmond Hill.
From my interview results I identified four areas of concern that I used to inform my discussion on transit policies:
This report explores what options the TTC can implement to make public transit in Toronto more inclusive; enabling immigrants, women, and a broad range of riders, to more easily meet their daily mobility needs using transit. The importance of public transit in the immigrant settlement process should be given a higher profile among transit authorities, in the academic literature, and from all levels of government. |
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Masters of Science in Planning Candidate
Department of Geography, University of Toronto
Updated 25 April 2007
Photo Credit: Kerry A. Bastien, DIG this Photography, Vancouver, BC