Identifying dimensions of exclusion from a BRT system in a developing country: a content analysis approach

•Identifies dimensions of exclusion from a BRT in a developing country.•Data used are blog entries hosted by a local newspaper.•Highlights a participatory process to voice concerns regarding the BRT system.•To analyze the blog data a content analysis approach is used.

To date, transport exclusion has largely been approached from an accessibility perspective, developing place- and individual-based measures. However, these measures present a weakness in that they typically capture aggregate patterns. To address this disadvantage, in this paper, social-based measures to transport exclusion from a media perspective are explored. The objective is to analyze the content of a transport-related blog initiated by a local newspaper in the city of Cali, Colombia to determine if any potential indicators of social exclusion can be gleaned from this source. A two-step content analysis is performed on the entries to determine if indicators are present that may be a current source of exclusion, or that may potentially cause individuals to exclude themselves from the system. Findings reveal that bloggers made reference to geographic, time, and fear-based exclusionary dimensions, as well as personal and societal. Such a forum thus holds the potential to inform policy makers of enhancements that can be made to the system that help make it more socially inclusive. The study is unique in its developing country setting where public participation in transport planning is rare.