Representations of everyday travel experiences: Case study of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan Area: Fid-Bau Portal

Representations of everyday travel experiences: Case study of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan Area

Nostikasari, Dian

Abstract Disparity of access to transportation also affects access to essential urban resources, particularly for lower income populations and minorities. Studies have shown how current transportation planning practices are dominated by the notion of planners as experts that produce the knowledge of future transportation needs using a series of analytical steps and computer modeling. Consequently, existing practices such as transport modeling perpetuate barriers to mobility and lack of accessibility, and therefore, there is a need to make explicit how these existing practices exclude particular population groups. Using the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) Metropolitan Area as a case study, this paper makes a stronger connection between the assumptions planners make regarding transportation needs and goals with everyday travel experiences of a variety of residents. This research utilizes travel diaries to provide in-depth understandings of individual’s travel experiences from various neighborhoods in the DFW Region to understand how differences in mobility and accessibility affect access to places.

Highlights • This article demonstrates that underlying assumptions used in the Four-Step Transportation Model—that of household’s income, access to auto mode, and availability of alternative travel modes—leave out various population groups and their daily travel needs. • Use of qualitative methodology in understanding travel experiences of a variety of population groups. • Inquiry into everyday travel experiences of the targeted population as a basis for mutual learning between expert and experience-based knowledge.