An In-Depth Look at the Trip-Deprived People of the United States

Social equity is fundamental to achieving sustainability. However, the social dimension of sustainability has received less attention than the environmental and economic dimensions. In the United States, policies mandate equitable distribution of benefits from transportation investments among all people, including the underserved populations consisting of people with disabilities, poor people, minorities, and older adults. These populations were historically considered transportation-disadvantaged because of their inability to travel like others. However, until the release of the 2022 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) data in November 2023, there were no national data to comprehensively examine the validity of the assumptions about people’s inability to travel. By including a special-topic question on equity for the first time that enquires about people taking fewer-than-planned trips in a 30-day period for certain reasons, the 2022 NHTS makes it possible to take a deeper look at the trip-deprived Americans. This research uses logit models and confirmatory factor analysis with a national sample of more than 11,000 NHTS respondents to examine the personal, household, and geographic area characteristics of the trip deprived. The models controlled for variations in travel need. The results show that people with disabilities, unemployed people, people with low income, Black people, and people without cars are at a higher risk of being trip-deprived. Similar evidence was not found for older adults. Geographic area characteristics are not as important as the personal and household characteristics, but they also provide important insights for transportation planning purposes.