Travel, location and race/ethnicity

This paper examines the relationship between residential location and travel among ethnic and racial population segments using the 1995 US Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey (NPTS) data. Using measures of total daily travel, I explore the effects of metropolitan location and local neighborhood characteristics. I estimate models which test for both independent and interaction effects of race/ethnicity. I find that there are significant differences in travel characteristics across race/ethnic groups. There are independent effects associated with race/ethnicity. Individual characteristics such as sex, age and household income, have different effects on daily travel. Metropolitan location is not related to total daily travel. However, residential neighborhood characteristics are related and have different effects across race/ethnic groups. I conclude that our understanding of travel behavior is largely an understanding of the white majority population, which dominates analysis when race/ethnicity is not explicitly considered. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.