2019

Miwa Matsuo, Kobe University

Personal automobility level is critical for accessing economic and social opportunities in an auto-oriented built environment such as the U.S. Household carpooling is the most popular alternative mode for solo-driving regardless of demographic group because it provides a certain degree of automobility, yet, carpool-dependent passengers often suffer from practical and other disadvantages. This paper explores the gender gap in personal automobility level, particularly among Hispanics, with explicit consideration to drivers’ access to household vehicles and non-drivers’ access to household carpooling. The research finds that Hispanic females, especially immigrants, are low in automobility, both in the probability of being a driver and in access to household vehicles. The gender gap is specific to Hispanics, and not found for non-Hispanic Whites or Blacks. The gap decreases, but persists, as immigrant Hispanics stay longer in the U.S., gain or maintain employment, or become college-educated. Surprisingly, the gender gap in personal automobility level exists even among U.S. native Hispanics.

Kailai Wang, Ohio State University
Gulsah Akar, Ohio State University

Bike-sharing is one of the rapidly growing transport services around the world. This study aims to identify the factors that affect gender differences in bike share ridership. Using data from New York City’s Citi Bike Share system, we investigate the environmental correlates of bike share usage for males and females. We also model the influences of bicycle facilities, land use factors, and public transit services on the share of trip arrivals made by females. The results suggest that the environmental correlates of bike share usage for males and females are broadly similar. However, the estimated magnitudes suggest that our variables of interest may influence males and females differently. For example, installing more bicycle racks are positively associated with bike share ridership for both genders. We further find that this factor affects females more than males. Specifically, a 1% increase in the number of bicycle racks is correlated with a 1.18% increment in the share of trips arrivals made by females. The findings can be used to assess the effectiveness of future infrastructure investments aimed at minimizing the gender gap in bike share usage. The findings also offer valuable insights into the ways of increasing the overall bike share ridership, thereby promoting local bicycling culture.

Hsin-Ping Hsu, Tamkang University
Marlon Boarnet, University of Southern California
Doug Houston, University of California, Irvine

Research suggests that gender influences attitudes toward both the environment and safety. While pro-environmental attitudes might encourage transit use, safety concerns might discourage transit use if the transit environment is perceived as unsafe. To quantitatively examine how gender, environmental beliefs, and safety concerns jointly affect transit use, we analyze results from a longitudinal quasi-experimental study which conducted pre- and post-opening travel surveys near a new light rail transit service in Los Angeles. We find that the influence of safety concerns on transit use is more prominent than that of environmental attitudes, particularly for women. Living closer to a new light rail transit station correlates with an increase in train ridership. This effect, however, is significantly lower for women. The results suggest that to foster transit use, reducing personal safety concerns related to transit may be more effective than increasing public awareness of transportation-related environmental issues, especially for attracting female riders.

Evelyn Blumenberg, UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies
Andrew Schouten, University of California, Los Angeles
Anne Brown, University of Oregon

We examine the role of gender in access to household resources, in particular the household automobile. Drawing on data from the 2012 California Household Travel Survey, we isolate the determinants of vehicle use within dual-earner, dual-driver, heterosexual households in which drivers share a single vehicle. We test four gender-related hypotheses—the role of disparities in economic power, practical necessity related to the household division of labor, gender norms, and gender preferences. We find that practical necessity—the amount of time that spouses spend on household-serving or work-related activities—is the primary determinant of automobile use for both men and women. In contrast to previous research, we find that women have substantially more exclusive access to the household vehicle than their male partners. Rather than a measure of equality, this finding reflects the persistence of the gender division of household labor and the role of the car in its maintenance. The study underscores the broader need for policies to equalize gender roles both within and between the home and the workplace, as well as a role for transportation policies that serve the needs of household members who do not have primary use of the household car.