Citation

Gurin DB. Transp. Res. Rec. 1976; 583: 29-35.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1976, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences USA, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Social science literature and information from a comprehensive case study of a population subgroup's physical mobility were used to forecast behavioral responses to 8 strategies to overcome problems associated with urban transportation. Strategies included substituting telephone calls for trip making, reducing family household and personal stresses, reducing tensions from poor home design, increasing home-centered activities, expanding home deliveries of goods and services, increasing spatial distribution of trip generators, improving the household location decision, and rescheduling school and work activities. The case study population was male high school students from working-class Boston suburbs. These strategies appear unlikely to be implemented on a large scale. Formidable opposition from parents, town residents, and institutions (especially in working-class communities) is anticipated. Costs, adult indifference, and a lack of respect for teenagers and the importance of these strategies are key barriers to be overcome. Even if these strategies manage to be implemented, empirical evidence is lacking that reductions in trip generation, trip distances, peak-hour travel, and other strategy objectives will actually occur. Fundamental sociological and psychological factors associated with the causes of travel behavior will remain unchanged. Optimistic predictions of the impacts of these strategies should therefore be avoided. Behavioral changes are likely to occur very slowly among non-middle-class subgroups. Transportation planners should consider trying to accommodate existing behavioral patterns rather than count on their modification.