Immigration, Sustainability, and Alternative Mode Use: Ten Hypotheses from a Qualitative Study in New Jersey, USA

Research investigating travel behavior differences between immigrants and US-born residents has established that immigrants are much more likely to use alternative modes than the US-born population. However, this research has not established why there remain persistent differences between immigrants and the US-born when controlling for demographic characteristics such as income and age, nor has it explained why immigrants rapidly abandon alternative modes for cars. These questions are critical for sustainable urban growth in the US since most urban growth will be driven by immigration in the decades to come. In this paper we describe focus groups that we conducted in New Jersey with immigrants from the Philippines, India, and Latin America. We explored reasons for changes in habitual daily travel over time, and in particular how immigrants decided where to live and where to work when first coming to the US and in subsequent moves. Unlike almost all previous quantitative or qualitative work on immigrants and travel, we focused on residential location decision making and the roles of occupational and family changes. We suggest ten novel hypotheses warranting further research, based on findings from the focus groups. We found little support for cultural explanations for transit persistence, home country habitual travel patterns, or culturally based spatial assimilation within the US.

• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Chatman, Daniel G
  • Klein, Nicholas J
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 90th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2011-1-23 to 2011-1-27
• Date: 2011

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: DVD
• Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 38p
• Monograph Title: TRB 90th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers DVD

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Accessibility; Decision making; Employment; Focus groups; Immigrants; Mode choice; Public transit; Residential location; Social factors; Travel behavior; Travel patterns
• Geographic Terms: New Jersey
• Subject Areas: Public Transportation; Society; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01333825
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 11-3681
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Mar 21 2011 2:16PM