Conference Interactive Program

TRB 89th Annual Meeting (January 10-14, 2010)

Event Number:	614
Event Title:	Demographic and Socioeconomic Factors in Journey-to-Work Transportation
Event Date:	Jan 13 2010 8:00AM- 9:45AM
Event Location:	Hilton, Lincoln West
Event Description:
Event Agenda:	This session examines the transportation choices and patterns of commuters as they correspond to various demographics in the U.S. and Canada. Participants will gain knowledge of the factors that must be taken into consideration when looking to improve or change existing routes and modes of transportation, particularly in low-income and ethnic neiborhoods.

Commute Distance and Ethnic Neighborhoods (10-3814)
    
With their mix of ethnic residents, businesses, services, and community institutions, many ethnic neighborhoods include the characteristics of mixed-use neighborhoods. We hypothesize, therefore, that residents of ethnic neighborhoods will exhibit different travel behavior—travel shorter distances—than those living outside of ethnic neighborhoods. To test this hypothesis, we use data for Southern California to predict commute distance, controlling for residence in an ethnic neighborhood among other characteristics. We find that the effect of ethnic neighborhoods to vary by employment access but not in the hypothesized direction. In job-poor ethnic neighborhoods, local residents are able to find local jobs and commute shorter distances than in comparable non-ethnic neighborhoods. Residents in job-rich ethnic neighborhoods tend to have longer commute distances. This finding may be due to the skills match between local residents and proximate jobs. However, it is more than likely that it also reflects the changing structure, composition, and location of ethnic neighborhoods and, in particular, the growth of suburban ethnic enclaves in which residents live in ethnic communities but commute to jobs that are located throughout the region.

Authors
     Blumenberg, Evelyn , University of California, Los Angeles
     Smart, Michael , University of California, Los Angeles
     Lee, Andrew , University of California, Los Angeles