Distance traveled in three Canadian cities: Spatial analysis from the perspective of vulnerable population segments

The objective of this paper is to investigate the factors that influence distance traveled by individuals in Canadian urban areas, with a particular focus on three population segments thought to face the risk of mobility challenges: the elderly, low-income people, and members of single-parent households. Data obtained for three large urban centers - Hamilton, Toronto, and Montreal - are analyzed using spatial expansion models, a technique used to obtain spatially-varying coefficients that help to tease out contextual person-location variations in travel behavior. Detailed geographical results help to enhance our understanding of the spatiality of travel behavior of the population segments of interest. Substantively, the results provide evidence of significant interactions between location, various demographic factors, and mobility tools. More specifically, the results evince patterns of mobility that are significantly different from the mainstream population, particularly in suburban settings, in ways that are indicative of mobility challenges. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.