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Investigating Unmet Travel Needs in Underserved Communities in California - Residents of disadvantaged, low-income, rural, and tribal communities (collectively referred to here as underserved communities) often face barriers to meeting their travel needs because of historic transportation decisions that left many places overserved by autocentric infrastructure, leaving less costly modes like transit, walking, and cycling unsafe or unavailable. These barriers often yield unmet travel, a kind of latent demand that is challenging to measure. Using a survey of underserved community residents, this study answers the following questions: (1) What are the factors associated with unmet travel needs in underserved communities? (2) How do people experiencing unmet travel needs currently get around? (3) What barriers do people experiencing unmet travel needs face? The study uses data collected through a survey given to a random stratified sample of underserved communities in California, analyzed using descriptive summary statistics and cross-tabulations. Findings show that of all survey respondents (N = 2,253), 37% report difficulty meeting travel needs and 4% report trips they forgo. Women, residents with a median household income less than $25,000, and renters are more likely to report travel difficulties than their counterparts. Car access is strongly associated with travel difficulty: relative to their car-owning peers, carless respondents are twice as likely to report difficulty. Of all respondents reporting travel difficulty, carless individuals are 2-4 times as likely to forgo trips or get a ride. Carless respondents are 2-3 times as likely as car-owning individuals to report the cost of rides and poor transit as the reasons for experiencing travel difficulty, while car-owning individuals are far more likely to report parking as the reason. This presentation will share in-progress conclusions and policy recommendations for meeting unmet travel needs in underserved communities.
