TRAVEL CHARACTERISTICS AND TRANSPORTATION ENERGY CONSUMPTION PATTERNS OF MINORITY AND POOR HOUSEHOLDS
Results of a recent investigation of travel behavior and transportation energy use by minority and poor households are presented and interpreted in terms of the known effects of household demographic characteristics on vehicle ownership and travel demand. When income and residential location are controlled, black (and to a lesser extent, Hispanic and poor) households were found to have fewer vehicles regularly available than did comparable white or nonpoor households, and their vehicles tended to be older and larger, and therefore having significantly lower fuel economy. Blacks were also found to rely more heavily than other groups on public transportation and carpools for their work travel and, partly as a result, to have significantly longer average travel times. Because of depressed vehicle-ownership rates and less fuel-efficient vehicles, the average black, Hispanic, and poor household travels significantly fewer miles per year but consumes somewhat more fuel than does the average white or nonpoor household. The major finding in this study of significant racial differences in vehicle availability and use by low-income central city households challenges the conventional wisdom that racial variations arise solely in response to differences in income and housing locations. It was concluded that because cross-sectional data sets cannot capture the dynamics of income, they cannot identify the persistently poor who tend to be concentrated in certain demographic subgroups (primarily black and female-headed households). Because capital goods and the resources needed to keep them in efficient working order are usually acquired in relatively prosperous years, households for which prosperity is rare or nonexistent may be expected to have depressed rates of vehicle ownership and use, and their vehicles may be expected to have relatively lower fuel economy than seemingly comparable but only temporarily poor households.
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Supplemental Notes:
- Publication of this paper sponsored by Committee on Transportation for the Transportation Disadvantaged. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
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Corporate Authors:
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Authors:
- Millar, Marianne
- Morrison, Robert
- Vyas, Anant
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Conference:
- 65th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board
- Location: Washington District of Columbia, United States
- Date: 1986-1-13 to 1986-1-16
- Publication Date: 1986
Media Info
- Media Type: Print
- Features: Figures; References; Tables;
- Pagination: pp 26-38
- Monograph Title: ENERGY DEMAND ANALYSIS AND ALTERNATIVE FUELS
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Serial:
- Transportation Research Record
- Issue Number: 1092
- Publisher: Transportation Research Board
- ISSN: 0361-1981
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Automobile ownership; Automobile travel; Carpools; Fuel consumption; Households; Low income groups; Minorities; Motor vehicles; Public transit; Service life; Travel patterns; Travel time
- Uncontrolled Terms: Vehicle age
- Subject Areas: Design; Energy; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Society; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 00471803
- Record Type: Publication
- ISBN: 03090041120
- Files: TRIS, TRB
- Created Date: Jul 31 1987 12:00AM