Journey to Work Mode Choice Among the Foreign-Born in New Jersey: Country of Origin Specific Differences

According to recent research, the foreign-born in the United States make use of carpools, transit, biking and walking at much higher rates than US-born persons during their first years in the country. This paper takes a new look at the travel behavior of immigrants by using data from New Jersey and examining the differences among the foreign-born from the populous immigrant sending countries: India, the Philippines, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Korea. Previous research has tended to categorize immigrants by large geographic sending regions and/or race/ethnicity but these groupings gloss over the important differences that exist across sending countries. The results of this study find support and contradictions of the previous research. Some immigrant populations in New Jersey appear to follow the expected path: high rates of carpool, transit and walking/biking during their first years in the US giving way to drive alone rates that are comparable to the US-born in later years. However, not all immigrant populations follow this trajectory. This analysis finds that travel behavior of Korean-born residents in New Jersey changes little during their years in the US, their rate of drive alone is comparable to US-born and they use transit at lower rates than the US-born.

• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Klein, Nicholas J
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 89th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2010-1-10 to 2010-1-14
• Date: 2010

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: DVD
• Features: Figures; Maps; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 17p
• Monograph Title: TRB 89th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers DVD

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bicycling; Data collection; Immigrants; Mode choice; Public transit; Social factors; Travel behavior; Walking; Work trips
• Geographic Terms: New Jersey
• Subject Areas: Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01157104
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 10-3043
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: May 24 2010 2:08PM