Getting Around When You’re Just Getting By: Transportation Survival Strategies of the Poor

an article by Evelyn Blumenberg (UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies, Los Angeles, California) and Asha Weinstein Agrawal (San José State University, California) published in Journal of Poverty Volume 18 Issue 4 (2014)

Abstract

Researchers argue that transportation expenditures impose a heavy burden on low-income households, many of whom experience difficulty managing their travel costs. However, relatively little research explores how low-income households manage their mobility needs.

To address this issue, this study uses qualitative data from interviews with 73 low-income people living in and around San Jose, California. The interviews reveal the resiliency of low-income families in creatively managing their transportation costs.

However, the transportation survival strategies of the poor can come at a high price – fewer miles travelled and, therefore, reduced access to opportunities that may lift them out of poverty.

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