Exploring Central Government Assistance for Urban Public Transport: A Mobility-Based Social Exclusion Perspective

China’s insufficient assistance by the central government for public transport is largely due to the traditional system-based policy perspective, which usually overemphasizes public transport as a municipal infrastructure rather than as a mechanism for social inclusion. Within this context, a new insight into the rationale and equality of central government assistance for the country’s public transport service is offered. By using a social exclusion approach, this study highlighted the obligation of the central government to adhere to mobility for every citizen so as to mitigate mobility-based social exclusion. On this premise, it is argued that urban public transport necessarily merits financial assistance given its primary function as a safety net of affordable mobility for all citizens. Furthermore, a method for policy makers to estimate the amount of central government assistance is established that could ensure that all urban residents are above the basic mobility line. With reference to a case study...