Transportation Spending by Low-Income California Households ...

Policy Responses and Research Needs
The data analysis, although illuminating, cannot provide definitive
answers about transportation affordability—the notion that the cost of
transportation should not be a barrier to access to essential destinations,
such as jobs and health care. First, much of the analysis rests on
expenditure data, which may not reflect the true cost of transportation if
costs are prohibitively high. Second, even cost data cannot fully capture
affordability, which is also a function of the costs of competing
household budget items, the ability to borrow or draw on savings to
cover costs, the level of transportation needs, and the quality of
transportation services available. However, the analysis does suggest that
private vehicle costs may hinder vehicle ownership for low-income
households and that certain families may find transit costs problematic as
well. Concerned about the costs of transportation, MTC requested a
menu of strategies for addressing transportation affordability. In
response to this request, the report lays out policy options for
consideration. The policy options discussed in the report do not follow
directly from the data analysis and the report does not make specific
policy recommendations.
The report considers five ways to make transportation more
affordable for low-income households:
1. Reduce commute expenses by enabling low-income households
to locate near major job centers or transit hubs;
2. Decrease the need for spending on travel by encouraging job and
service growth in or near low-income communities;
3. Reduce transportation costs for a given transportation mode or
enable low-income workers to use low-cost transportation;
4. Make it easier for low-income parents to transport their children
from school and child care; and
5. Increase household income directly through income subsidies or
tax credits to offset the burden imposed by transportation costs.
Most policies discussed in the report fall into the third category:
transportation-oriented strategies. Some of these policy options focus
on reducing the costs of a particular transportation mode—for example,
x