Transportation Spending by Low-Income California Households ...

• Marin to San Francisco: As with the Alameda to San Francisco
commute and the Contra Costa to Alameda commute, the lowincome
group is more likely to take the bus. However, the
difference is larger: 32 percent of the low-income group take the
bus, compared to 21 percent of the higher-income group. Lowincome
workers are quite a bit less likely to carpool (6% to
15%). The differences in ferryboat use were not statistically
significant.
• Napa to Contra Costa: Virtually everyone in Napa travels by
private vehicle, but low-income workers are more likely to
carpool than higher-income workers (39% to 15%).
• San Francisco to San Mateo: For this commute, there are huge
differences in mode choice across the income groups. The lowincome
group is much less likely to drive alone (56%, compared
to 80% for the higher-income group), and much more likely to
take the bus (19%, compared to 3%). Possibly low-income
commuters to San Mateo are traveling to portions of San Mateo
that are much closer to San Francisco than the destinations to
which the higher-income commuters are commuting.
• San Mateo to San Francisco: It is interesting to see that when
workers travel in the reverse direction, the distribution of mode
choices is quite different. Higher-income workers commuting
from San Mateo to San Francisco take transit at much higher
rates than higher-income workers going in the other direction.
Even so, low-income commuters from San Mateo still drive
alone less frequently than the higher-income commuters (50%
to 62%) but are more likely to carpool (24% to 17%). Lowincome
workers are more likely to take the bus, and higherincome
workers are more likely to take the subway. 9
• Santa Clara to Alameda: The low-income workers drive alone
less often than higher-income workers (63%, compared to 86%)
and take the bus more often (5%, compared to 0%).
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9 Because the Census PUMS is a national survey, it does not ask about specific
regional or local transit providers such as BART or Caltrain. The mode choice reported
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