Travel Behavior of the Poor after Welfare Reform

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.