Funding source: Caltrans

Contract number: 65A0674

Funding amount: $86,007

Performance period: 10/1/2021 to 9/30/2022

Link to final report: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0340w08s

We propose a research project primarily comprising a survey of the desires, attitudes, and choices of people with and without disabilities in California, with respect to transportation modes, housing types, and residential locations. The data collected in this survey will improve understanding of the ways that people with disabilities may be poorly served by existing transportation options compared to their counterparts without disabilities even in otherwise similar circumstances, and of the extent to which people with disabilities regularly experience diminished mobility and quality of life because of those difficulties with transportation. The results of this survey will inform efforts in California to move toward more sustainable and equitable forms of transportation. In particular, major metropolitan areas in California have experienced significant growth in new transportation modes, such as ridehailing and shared micromobility, and those areas have also promoted sustainable solutions like wider sidewalks, bike lanes, bus-only lanes, and new train systems. Yet, the correlation of disability with poverty in conjunction with the suburbanization of poverty in major metropolitan areas in California suggest a need to better understand the challenges that people with disabilities actually face where they live, and this project will contribute to such understanding.