Unpacking travel needs and experiences: Insights from qualitative interviews with affordable housing residents in California

As states like California move to decarbonize and invest in clean mobility, understanding how the evolving transportation landscape affects travel behavior becomes crucial. This transition to decarbonization presents an opportunity to create a more just energy system, benefiting underserved and historically marginalized communities. This study explored how a limited-income community in Sonoma County, California uses personal transportation to address their travel needs. Through qualitative interviews at two affordable housing complexes, we uncovered residents' experiences with transportation and factors influencing their travel choices. Our findings showed that participants navigated a complex, interconnected transportation system, comprising five critical subsystems: transportation options, infrastructure, availability, financing, and rules and norms. Each subsystem was characterized by distinct points of interaction, reflecting the multifaceted experiences of users. Individual circumstances, such as interactions with the criminal justice system and familial responsibilities, profoundly shaped participants' transportation choices. Participants prioritized factors such as cost-effectiveness, safety, convenience, and reliability, but their decisions were also influenced by their specific needs and contexts, including the need for point-to-point travel, family alignment, and familiarity considerations. In this work, we uncovered the social dimensions of personal transportation choices, which can help transportation planners and engineers better integrate a sociotechnical perspective when designing future transportation systems. By understanding the diverse needs of communities and applying a sociotechnical systems perspective, policymakers can work toward a more equitable and decarbonized transportation future, ensuring access regardless of personal circumstances and individual travel needs.