abstract: 'In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed into law the Personal

  Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, also known as

  welfare reform. As part of this act, Congress established welfare block

  grant programs that included a set of provisions intended to promote

  employment. In the aftermath of these reforms, policy makers turned to

  transportation as one strategy to transition welfare recipients and

  other low-income adults rapidly into the labor market. As the foundation

  for these transportation programs, studies documented the travel

  patterns of the poor and highlighted the limited access of these

  individuals to automobiles. Given the many changes since the 1990s, it

  is time to revisit these data. This study draws on the 1995 Nationwide

  Personal Transportation Survey and the 2009 National Household Travel

  Survey to examine changes in the commute travel of low-income adults

  since welfare reform. The data provide evidence that the reliance on

  automobiles has increased significantly over time; the growth reflects

  the many advantages of cars in increasingly decentralized environments.

  However, some population groups-particularly the carless-have become

  more dependent on public transit to access work. These findings suggest

  the importance of protecting and expanding vital transit services for

  those who need them, as well as acting on behalf of low-income

  households that may be better served through personal vehicular travel.'
affiliation: 'Blumenberg, E (Corresponding Author), Univ Calif Los Angeles, Luskin
  Sch Publ Affairs, Inst Transportat Studies, 3250 Publ Affairs Bldg, Los Angeles,
  CA 90095 USA.

  Blumenberg, Evelyn; Thomas, Trevor, Univ Calif Los Angeles, Luskin Sch Publ Affairs,
  Inst Transportat Studies, Los Angeles, CA 90095 USA.'
author: Blumenberg, Evelyn and Thomas, Trevor
author-email: eblumenb@ucla.edu
author_list:
- family: Blumenberg
  given: Evelyn
- family: Thomas
  given: Trevor
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.3141/2452-07
eissn: 2169-4052
files: []
issn: 0361-1981
journal: TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH RECORD
keywords-plus: SPATIAL MISMATCH; EMPLOYMENT; ACCESSIBILITY
language: English
number: '2452'
number-of-cited-references: '35'
pages: 53-61
papis_id: a003e1246eafa1646f293cb24d4f8334
ref: Blumenberg2014travelbehavior
times-cited: '10'
title: Travel Behavior of the Poor After Welfare Reform
type: article
unique-id: WOS:000349494900008
usage-count-last-180-days: '1'
usage-count-since-2013: '9'
web-of-science-categories: Engineering, Civil; Transportation; Transportation Science
  \& Technology
year: '2014'