Typecasting Neighborhoods and Travelers: Analyzing the Geography of Travel Behavior Among Teens and Young Adults in the U.S.

Although vehicle travel has declined for almost all demographic groups during the 2000s, some of the largest declines have been among young adults. Young travelers have also have experienced a significant decline in licensing rates in comparison with previous generations. This report focuses on attitudinal trends contributing to said decline. In addition to attitudes, economics, and technology, another explanation for the for the varied travel patterns of Millennials is geographic. Data from the U.S. Census show that youth are more likely than older adults to move to central-city neighborhoods where origins and destinations are more proximate and travel by alternative modes (such as by foot, bike, and public transit) is more common. Thus changes in the residential location of young adults today may have important, and potentially long lasting, effects on travel behavior in the years ahead. In this study, the authors use individual data from the 2001 and 2009 National Household Travel Surveys and associated neighborhood-level data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Smart Location Database and the Decennial U.S. Census to examine geographic variation in the travel behavior of youth relative to other age groups. The authors used these combined data to perform five related, yet distinct analyses: the composition, character, and distribution of neighborhood types across the entire U.S.; changes in the location of young adults across these neighborhood types over time and relative to other age groups; the composition, character, and distribution of types of youth travelers in the U.S., as well as the relationships between neighborhood types and youth traveler types; the relationship between neighborhood type and travel behavior (measured by person miles of travel, vehicle miles of travel, trips, access to automobiles, and travel mode) by age group; and the relationship between living in a particular neighborhood type and the likelihood of being a certain type of youth traveler. Using first factor and then cluster analysis, we define seven distinct neighborhood types in terms of the characteristics of the built environment and transportation systems. These neighborhood types serve as the foundation of the subsequent analysis of the residential location and travel behavior of youth relative to older adults. written by Veronica

• Record URL:
  http://www.lewis.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/10/Geography-of-Youth-Travel_Final-Report.pdf?mc_cid=68d255b9a1&mc_eid=c362ec69d8
• Record URL:
  https://merritt.cdlib.org/d/ark%3A%2F13030%2Fm58h372z/1/producer%2FUCLALC-20151000.pdf
• 
• Summary URL:
  http://www.its.ucla.edu/publication/typecasting-neighborhoods-and-travelers-analyzing-the-geography-of-travel-behavior-among-teens-and-young-adults-in-the-u-s/
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Futures Team

  ,    
• Authors:
  • Blumenberg, Evelyn
  • Brown, Anne
  • Ralph, Kelcie M
  • Taylor, Brian D
  • Voulgaris, Carole Turley
  • 0000-0003-0556-924X
• Publication Date: 2015-9-25

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Tables;
• Pagination: 175p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Adolescents; Cluster analysis; Mode choice; Neighborhoods; Policy; Travel behavior; Young adults
• Geographic Terms: Los Angeles Metropolitan Area
• Subject Areas: Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01598260
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: UC Berkeley Transportation Library
• Files: BTRIS, UTC, TRIS
• Created Date: Apr 29 2016 3:28PM