IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jotrge/v80y2019ics0966692318305210.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Bicycle use and accessibility among people experiencing homelessness in California cities

Author

Listed:
  • Parker, Cory

Abstract

Urban residents with low (or no) incomes struggle to move through the city, given the expense of owning and operating automobiles. The spatial extent and ubiquity of automobile infrastructure contributes to transportation exclusion – the inaccessibility of the city to those experiencing poverty. In response, the urban poor develop their own means and methods of informal transportation in the public streets and open space of the city. I examine the experience of homelessness and bicycling in two California cities in order to answer the question: How does the bicycle improve (or detract from) the interactive accessibility of homeless people? Using mobile ethnographic methods and behavior mapping in the urban landscape, I observed and interacted with homeless people and their movements. Analysis of field notes and mappings shows people experiencing homelessness find an adaptable mode of transportation in the bicycle, more responsive than transit and reaching larger areas than walking. Compared to the car, the bicycle reduces the potential range of travel but increases accessibility to interactions with others within formal and informal spaces.

Suggested Citation

  • Parker, Cory, 2019. "Bicycle use and accessibility among people experiencing homelessness in California cities," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:80:y:2019:i:c:s0966692318305210
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2019.102542
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0966692318305210
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2019.102542?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. Emma Jackson, 2012. "Fixed in Mobility: Young Homeless People and the City," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(4), pages 725-741, July.
    2. Handy, Susan, 1994. "Highway Blues: Nothing a Little Accessibility Can't Cure," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt66k8b8bz, University of California Transportation Center.
    3. Rachel Aldred, 2013. "Incompetent or Too Competent? Negotiating Everyday Cycling Identities in a Motor Dominated Society," Mobilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(2), pages 252-271, May.
    4. Mokhtarian, Patricia L. & Salomon, Ilan, 2001. "How derived is the demand for travel? Some conceptual and measurement considerations," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 695-719, September.
    5. Tom Hall & Robin James Smith, 2013. "Stop and Go: A Field Study of Pedestrian Practice, Immobility and Urban Outreach Work," Mobilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(2), pages 272-292, May.
    6. Konrad Miciukiewicz & Geoff Vigar, 2012. "Mobility and Social Cohesion in the Splintered City: Challenging Technocentric Transport Research and Policy-making Practices," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 49(9), pages 1941-1957, July.
    7. Mimi Sheller & John Urry, 2006. "The New Mobilities Paradigm," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 38(2), pages 207-226, February.
    8. Julian Hine & Fiona Mitchell, 2001. "Better for Everyone? Travel Experiences and Transport Exclusion," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 38(2), pages 319-332, February.
    9. Frank Southworth, 1985. "Multi‐Destination, Multi‐Purpose Trip Chaining And Its Implications For Locational Accessibility: A Simulation Approach," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(1), pages 107-123, January.
    10. Lucas, Karen, 2012. "Transport and social exclusion: Where are we now?," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 105-113.
    11. Cervero, Robert & Golub, Aaron, 2007. "Informal transport: A global perspective," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 14(6), pages 445-457, November.
    12. S L Handy & D A Niemeier, 1997. "Measuring Accessibility: An Exploration of Issues and Alternatives," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 29(7), pages 1175-1194, July.
    13. Handy, Susan, 1993. "A Cycle of Dependence: Automobiles, Accessibility, and the Evolution of the Transportation and Retail Hierarchies," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt15g4c2j8, University of California Transportation Center.
    14. Iacono, Michael & Krizek, Kevin J. & El-Geneidy, Ahmed, 2010. "Measuring non-motorized accessibility: issues, alternatives, and execution," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 133-140.
    15. David Levinson, 1998. "Accessibility and the Journey to Work," Working Papers 199802, University of Minnesota: Nexus Research Group.
    16. Q Shen, 1998. "Location Characteristics of Inner-City Neighborhoods and Employment Accessibility of Low-Wage Workers," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 25(3), pages 345-365, June.
    17. Christine L Jocoy & Vincent J Del Casino Jr, 2010. "Homelessness, Travel Behavior, and the Politics of Transportation Mobilities in Long Beach, California," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 42(8), pages 1943-1963, August.
    18. Lyons, Glenn, 2003. "The introduction of social exclusion into the field of travel behaviour," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 339-342, October.
    19. Justin Spinney, 2010. "Performing Resistance? Re-Reading Practices of Urban Cycling on London's South Bank," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 42(12), pages 2914-2937, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Ahmed El-Geneidy & David Levinson, 2011. "Place Rank: Valuing Spatial Interactions," Networks and Spatial Economics, Springer, vol. 11(4), pages 643-659, December.
    2. Handy, Susan L, 2002. "Accessibility- vs. Mobility-Enhancing Strategies for Addressing Automobile Dependence in the U.S," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt5kn4s4pb, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    3. Boisjoly, Geneviève & El-Geneidy, Ahmed M., 2017. "The insider: A planners' perspective on accessibility," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 33-43.
    4. Deboosere, Robbin & El-Geneidy, Ahmed, 2018. "Evaluating equity and accessibility to jobs by public transport across Canada," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 54-63.
    5. Jen-Jia Lin & Chi-Hau Chen & Tsung-Yu Hsieh, 2016. "Job accessibility and ethnic minority employment in urban and rural areas in Taiwan," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 95(2), pages 363-382, June.
    6. Ahern, Aoife & Vega, Amaya & Caulfield, Brian, 2016. "Deprivation and access to work in Dublin City: The impact of transport disadvantage," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 44-52.
    7. Merlin, Louis A. & Hu, Lingqian, 2017. "Does competition matter in measures of job accessibility? Explaining employment in Los Angeles," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 77-88.
    8. Karen Lucas & Bert Wee & Kees Maat, 2016. "A method to evaluate equitable accessibility: combining ethical theories and accessibility-based approaches," Transportation, Springer, vol. 43(3), pages 473-490, May.
    9. Deboosere, Robbin & El-Geneidy, Ahmed M. & Levinson, David, 2018. "Accessibility-oriented development," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 11-20.
    10. Cheng, Jianquan & Bertolini, Luca, 2013. "Measuring urban job accessibility with distance decay, competition and diversity," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 100-109.
    11. Cui, Boer & Boisjoly, Geneviève & El-Geneidy, Ahmed & Levinson, David, 2019. "Accessibility and the journey to work through the lens of equity," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 269-277.
    12. Jesper Bláfoss Ingvardson & Sigal Kaplan & João de Abreu e Silva & Floridea Ciommo & Yoram Shiftan & Otto Anker Nielsen, 2020. "Existence, relatedness and growth needs as mediators between mode choice and travel satisfaction: evidence from Denmark," Transportation, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 337-358, February.
    13. Kim, Junghwan & Lee, Bumsoo, 2019. "More than travel time: New accessibility index capturing the connectivity of transit services," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 8-18.
    14. Mingming Cai & Yaolin Liu & Minghai Luo & Lijun Xing & Yanfang Liu, 2019. "Job Accessibility from a Multiple Commuting Circles Perspective Using Baidu Location Data: A Case Study of Wuhan, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-18, November.
    15. Blair, Neale & Hine, Julian & Bukhari, Syed Murtaza Asghar, 2013. "Analysing the impact of network change on transport disadvantage: a GIS-based case study of Belfast," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 192-200.
    16. Hamidi, Zahra & Camporeale, Rosalia & Caggiani, Leonardo, 2019. "Inequalities in access to bike-and-ride opportunities: Findings for the city of Malmö," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 673-688.
    17. Golub, Aaron & Martens, Karel, 2014. "Using principles of justice to assess the modal equity of regional transportation plans," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 10-20.
    18. Scott, Darren M. & Horner, Mark W., 2008. "Examining The Role of Urban Form In Shaping People’s Accessibility to Opportunities: An Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis," The Journal of Transport and Land Use, Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, vol. 1(2), pages 89-119.
    19. Lingqian Hu, 2017. "Job accessibility and employment outcomes: which income groups benefit the most?," Transportation, Springer, vol. 44(6), pages 1421-1443, November.
    20. Curl, Angela & Clark, Julie & Kearns, Ade, 2018. "Household car adoption and financial distress in deprived urban communities: A case of forced car ownership?," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 61-71.

    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:80:y:2019:i:c:s0966692318305210. 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.