IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jotrge/v100y2022ics0966692322000527.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The influence of limited financial resources on daily travel practices. A case study of low-income households with children in the Hanover Region (Germany)

Author

Listed:
  • Rozynek, Caroline
  • Schwerdtfeger, Stefanie
  • Lanzendorf, Martin

Abstract

Being mobile is essential to participate in social life. However, as transport involves costs, this is a particular challenge for people on low incomes. Households with children are, especially, at an increased risk of poverty. To provide a deeper understanding of how financial poverty affects the daily travel practices of low-income families and how they cope with their limited financial resources, we conducted 16 qualitative problem-centred interviews with low-income families in Ronnenberg (Hanover Region, Germany). Although all the interviewees have to cope with limited financial resources, their daily travel practices differ. We identify four types of daily travel practices for these families: (1) car-centred, (2) car-reduced, (3) public transport oriented and (4) non-motorised. For a more detailed analysis on how poverty affects transport and participation, we use the practice theory perspective (Shove et al., 2012). Our analysis highlights that the car plays a significant role despite poverty for some families. However, other low-income families manage their daily life with public transport and non-motorised modes only. Our results show that low-income households with children have several strategies for organising and financing their daily travel practices. One strategy is direct and indirect support for travel from their social network. Furthermore, some families forgo leisure activities with entrance fees or higher travel costs.

Suggested Citation

  • Rozynek, Caroline & Schwerdtfeger, Stefanie & Lanzendorf, Martin, 2022. "The influence of limited financial resources on daily travel practices. A case study of low-income households with children in the Hanover Region (Germany)," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:100:y:2022:i:c:s0966692322000527
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2022.103329
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0966692322000527
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2022.103329?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lagrell, Ellen & Thulin, Eva & Vilhelmson, Bertil, 2018. "Accessibility strategies beyond the private car: A study of voluntarily carless families with young children in Gothenburg," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 218-227.
    2. Chandra, Shailesh & Jimenez, Jose & Radhakrishnan, Ramalingam, 2017. "Accessibility evaluations for nighttime walking and bicycling for low-income shift workers," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 97-108.
    3. Susan Handy & Bert van Wee & Maarten Kroesen, 2014. "Promoting Cycling for Transport: Research Needs and Challenges," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(1), pages 4-24, January.
    4. Brown, Anne E., 2017. "Car-less or car-free? Socioeconomic and mobility differences among zero-car households," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 152-159.
    5. Pooley, Colin G. & Horton, Dave & Scheldeman, Griet & Tight, Miles & Jones, Tim & Chisholm, Alison & Harwatt, Helen & Jopson, Anne, 2011. "Household decision-making for everyday travel: a case study of walking and cycling in Lancaster (UK)," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 1601-1607.
    6. Currie, Graham & Richardson, Tony & Smyth, Paul & Vella-Brodrick, Dianne & Hine, Julian & Lucas, Karen & Stanley, Janet & Morris, Jenny & Kinnear, Ray & Stanley, John, 2009. "Investigating links between transport disadvantage, social exclusion and well-being in Melbourne--Preliminary results," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 97-105, July.
    7. Felipe González & Carolina Busco & Katheryn Codocedo, 2019. "Fare Evasion in Public Transport: Grouping Transantiago Users’ Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-17, November.
    8. Müggenburg, Hannah & Busch-Geertsema, Annika & Lanzendorf, Martin, 2015. "Mobility biographies: A review of achievements and challenges of the mobility biographies approach and a framework for further research," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 151-163.
    9. Craig, Lyn & van Tienoven, Theun Pieter, 2019. "Gender, mobility and parental shares of daily travel with and for children: a cross-national time use comparison," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 93-102.
    10. Hine, Julian & Grieco, Margaret, 2003. "Scatters and clusters in time and space: implications for delivering integrated and inclusive transport," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 299-306, October.
    11. Talia McCray & Nicole Brais, 2007. "Exploring the Role of Transportation in Fostering Social Exclusion: The Use of GIS to Support Qualitative Data," Networks and Spatial Economics, Springer, vol. 7(4), pages 397-412, December.
    12. Sattlegger, Lukas & Rau, Henrike, 2016. "Carlessness in a car‐centric world: A reconstructive approach to qualitative mobility biographies research," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 22-31.
    13. Hudde, Ansgar, 2022. "The unequal cycling boom in Germany," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    14. Joachim Scheiner & Christian Holz-Rau, 2017. "Women’s complex daily lives: a gendered look at trip chaining and activity pattern entropy in Germany," Transportation, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 117-138, January.
    15. Lucas, Karen, 2012. "Transport and social exclusion: Where are we now?," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 105-113.
    16. Church, A. & Frost, M. & Sullivan, K., 2000. "Transport and social exclusion in London," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 195-205, July.
    17. McLaren, Arlene Tigar, 2016. "Families and transportation: Moving towards multimodality and altermobility?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 218-225.
    18. Lucas, Karen, 2019. "A new evolution for transport-related social exclusion research?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    19. Anders Bondemark & Henrik Andersson & Anders Wretstrand & Karin Brundell-Freij, 2021. "Is it expensive to be poor? Public transport in Sweden," Transportation, Springer, vol. 48(5), pages 2709-2734, October.
    20. Cass, Noel & Faulconbridge, James, 2016. "Commuting practices: New insights into modal shift from theories of social practice," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 1-14.
    21. Scheiner, Joachim, 2016. "School trips in Germany: Gendered escorting practices," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 76-92.
    22. Meinherz, Franziska & Binder, Claudia R., 2020. "The dynamics of modal shifts in (sub)urban commuting: An empirical analysis based on practice theories," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    23. Lovejoy, Kristin & Handy, Susan, 2011. "Social networks as a source of private-vehicle transportation: The practice of getting rides and borrowing vehicles among Mexican immigrants in California," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 45(4), pages 248-257, May.
    24. Giulio Mattioli, 2017. "‘Forced Car Ownership’ in the UK and Germany: Socio-Spatial Patterns and Potential Economic Stress Impacts," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(4), pages 147-160.
    25. Tomás Serebrisky & Andrés Gómez‐Lobo & Nicolás Estupiñán & Ramón Muñoz‐Raskin, 2009. "Affordability and Subsidies in Public Urban Transport: What Do We Mean, What Can Be Done?," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(6), pages 715-739, January.
    26. Henrike Rau & Lukas Sattlegger, 2018. "Shared journeys, linked lives: a relational-biographical approach to mobility practices," Mobilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(1), pages 45-63, January.
    27. Laura McCarthy & Alexa Delbosc & Graham Currie & Andrew Molloy, 2017. "Factors influencing travel mode choice among families with young children (aged 0–4): a review of the literature," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(6), pages 767-781, November.
    28. Ole B. Jensen & Mimi Sheller & Simon Wind, 2015. "Together and Apart: Affective Ambiences and Negotiation in Families' Everyday Life and Mobility," Mobilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(3), pages 363-382, July.
    29. Schwanen, Tim & Lucas, Karen & Akyelken, Nihan & Cisternas Solsona, Diego & Carrasco, Juan-Antonio & Neutens, Tijs, 2015. "Rethinking the links between social exclusion and transport disadvantage through the lens of social capital," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 123-135.
    30. Belton Chevallier, Leslie & Motte-Baumvol, Benjamin & Fol, Sylvie & Jouffe, Yves, 2018. "Coping with the costs of car dependency: A system of expedients used by low-income households on the outskirts of Dijon and Paris," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 79-88.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rozynek, Caroline, 2024. "Imagine the financial barrier to public transport use disappears. The impact of the 9-Euro-Ticket on the mobility and social participation of low-income households with children," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 80-90.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rozynek, Caroline, 2024. "Imagine the financial barrier to public transport use disappears. The impact of the 9-Euro-Ticket on the mobility and social participation of low-income households with children," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 80-90.
    2. Duvarci, Yavuz & Yigitcanlar, Tan & Mizokami, Shoshi, 2015. "Transportation disadvantage impedance indexing: A methodological approach to reduce policy shortcomings," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 61-75.
    3. Casas, Irene & Delmelle, Elizabeth C., 2014. "Identifying dimensions of exclusion from a BRT system in a developing country: a content analysis approach," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 228-237.
    4. Rui Xiao & Guofeng Wang & Meng Wang, 2018. "Transportation Disadvantage and Neighborhood Sociodemographics: A Composite Indicator Approach to Examining Social Inequalities," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 137(1), pages 29-43, May.
    5. Camilleri, Rosalie & Attard, Maria & Hickman, Robin, 2022. "Understanding barriers to modal shift in Malta: A practice-theoretical perspective of everyday mobility," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    6. Md. Kamruzzaman & Tan Yigitcanlar & Jay Yang & Mohd Afzan Mohamed, 2016. "Measures of Transport-Related Social Exclusion: A Critical Review of the Literature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(7), pages 1-30, July.
    7. Lagrell, Ellen & Thulin, Eva & Vilhelmson, Bertil, 2018. "Accessibility strategies beyond the private car: A study of voluntarily carless families with young children in Gothenburg," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 218-227.
    8. Rau, Henrike & Popp, Monika & Namberger, Philipp & Mögele, Michael, 2019. "Short distance, big impact: The effects of intra-city workplace relocation on staff mobility practices," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 1-1.
    9. Havet, Nathalie & Bayart, Caroline & Bonnel, Patrick, 2021. "Why do Gender Differences in Daily Mobility Behaviours persist among workers?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 34-48.
    10. Mattioli, Giulio & Wadud, Zia & Lucas, Karen, 2018. "Vulnerability to fuel price increases in the UK: A household level analysis," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 227-242.
    11. Laura McCarthy & Alexa Delbosc & Graham Currie & Andrew Molloy, 2021. "Trajectories and transitions: mobility after parenthood," Transportation, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 239-256, February.
    12. Kamruzzaman, Md. & Hine, Julian & Gunay, Banihan & Blair, Neale, 2011. "Using GIS to visualise and evaluate student travel behaviour," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 13-32.
    13. L. E. Karjalainen & M. Tiitu & J. Lyytimäki & V. Helminen & P. Tapio & A. Tuominen & T. Vasankari & J. Lehtimäki & R. Paloniemi, 2023. "Going carless in different urban fabrics: socio-demographics of household car ownership," Transportation, Springer, vol. 50(1), pages 107-142, February.
    14. Kamruzzaman, Md. & Hine, Julian, 2011. "Participation index: a measure to identify rural transport disadvantage?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 882-899.
    15. Bueno Rezendede Castro, André & Ortega Sandoval, Abby Daniela & Odamtten, Genevieve, 2022. "Up around the bend? How transport poverty can lead to social exclusion in a low-income community in Lagos, Nigeria," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    16. Jahanshahi, Kaveh & Jin, Ying & Williams, Ian, 2015. "Direct and indirect influences on employed adults’ travel in the UK: New insights from the National Travel Survey data 2002–2010," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 288-306.
    17. Pyrialakou, V. Dimitra & Gkritza, Konstantina & Fricker, Jon D., 2016. "Accessibility, mobility, and realized travel behavior: Assessing transport disadvantage from a policy perspective," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 252-269.
    18. Ellen Lagrell & Ana Gil Solá, 2021. "Car Use of the Carless in Sweden: Everyday Life Conditions for Reducing Car Dependence," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-19, September.
    19. Bert van Wee, 2011. "Transport and Ethics," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14281.
    20. Mattioli, Giulio & Lucas, Karen & Marsden, Greg, 2018. "Reprint of Transport poverty and fuel poverty in the UK: From analogy to comparison," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 114-125.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:100:y:2022:i:c:s0966692322000527. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-transport-geography .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.