Social Inequality in Popular Neighborhoods: A Pre- and Post-Pandemic Perspective from Joint Accessibility

The existence of barriers to accessing essential urban opportunities leads to differentiated use of the territory, which can generate social fragmentation. Several authors highlight the role of public transportation services for reducing inequality gaps by providing connections between origins and destinations. The COVID-19 health emergency in 2020 highlighted the complex situation faced by disadvantaged populations in coping with crises in the absence of transportation services. Considering four popular neighborhoods in Santiago de Cali, Colombia, as a case study, patterns of public transport provision, the potential for access to opportunities, and joint accessibility patterns for 2015 and 2021 were evaluated through methods based on spatial analysis. A decrease in public transport provision of approximately 25% and an increase in travel times close to 23 min were detected by 2021. The results show deficits in the provision of transportation services and low accessibility in the study area and reinforce the hypothesis raised about the existence of housing segregation and spatial inequality located on the city’s urban edge, which are marked in both scenarios.