ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses aspects of household costs; issues related to car ownership, transit fares, and road tolls; and ways in which federal funding produces geographic inequities. Transportation is the second-largest expenditure category for American families, accounting for 18.6 cents of every dollar spent annually. Transportation policies have a direct impact on low-income, minority communities by making accessibility difficult. A Surface Transportation Policy Project report from 2001 found that those in the lowest income quintile spent 36 percent of their take-home pay on transportation, compared with those in the highest income quintile, who spent only 14 percent on transportation. Analyzing household transportation costs along with travel activities helps to illustrate travel costs versus benefits. Increasing costs and growing debt problems further reduce the lower-income population's ability to pay for other needs, further removing this population from the possibility of home ownership and wealth accumulation. The increasing burden of transportation costs compounds the financial challenges that lower-income households face.
