Rural travel burdens in the United States: Unmet need and travel costs

Transportation accessibility, or the ease of reaching valued destinations, is a critical determinant of a person's ability to satisfy their essential needs. A lack of accessibility can result in travel burdens such as high transportation costs or unmet needs and adversely affect well-being. Prior research establishes the inverse relationship between travel burdens and access to transportation options such as public transit and proximity to destinations as well as a person's resources, including their income and access to a personal vehicle. Although travel behavior is understood to differ across rural versus urban contexts, little is known about the nature of travel burdens in rural communities. Using the 2017 National Household Travel Survey, this study quantifies and compares travel burdens in rural versus nonrural communities in the United States. In each context, the authors quantify and compare i) the magnitude of travel burdens, ii) who experiences travel burdens, and iii) the individual and environmental factors that are associated with travel burdens. They find higher rates of burdensome travel outcomes among rural residents. People who live in rural areas are more likely to report burdensome travel costs and unmet travel needs due to a lack of transportation options compared to people living in nonrural areas, and these differences are exacerbated for people without car access. Dispersed rural contexts are unique in that they exhibit a combination of higher rates of financial burden and unmet need relative to urban contexts. Within rural areas, financial burdens and unmet need are less prevalent for those who live in a small town when compared with those living in more dispersed areas, which suggests that even a small concentration of services and opportunities may facilitate greater access. Collectively, their results highlight the need for research that attends to context-specific needs and strategies to address travel burdens in rural communities.

• Record URL:
  • https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2024.104016
• Record URL:
  • http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0966692324002254
• Record URL:
  • https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/79105
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/09666923
• Supplemental Notes:
  • © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Abstract reprinted with permission of Elsevier.
• Authors:
  • Espeland, Sierra
  • Rowangould, Dana
• Publication Date: 2024-12

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: 104016
• Serial:
  • Journal of Transport Geography
  • Volume: 121
  • Issue Number: 0
  • Publisher: Elsevier
  • ISSN: 0966-6923
  • Serial URL: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jtrangeo

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Accessibility; Low income groups; Rural areas; Transportation disadvantaged persons; Travel costs
• Geographic Terms: United States
• Subject Areas: Finance; Highways; Passenger Transportation; Public Transportation; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01934657
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: NTL, TRIS
• Created Date: Oct 22 2024 9:07AM