Research

Lead Researcher

Alex Murphy
Research Professor, Population Studies Center; Research Professor, Survey Research Center; Professor, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy; Professor, Sociology

Project Team

Nicole Kovski

Project Abstract

To deploy future mobility technologies in ways that will promote transportation equity, we need to better understand the landscape of transportation insecurity in the United States and develop tools that will enable researchers to evaluate whether such technologies are successfully moving people from transportation insecurity to transportation security.

To further these goals, this research has two objectives: The first is to further the development of the Transportation Security Index, the first validated individual measure of its kind that was explicitly designed to measure transportation insecurity as it is directly experienced by people, regardless of where they live or what mode of transportation they use (see Gould Werth et al. 2018, Murphy et al. 2021). Measurement development will consist of identifying a preliminary 3- item short form and fielding a nationally representative survey for replication and validation purposes. The second it to use nationally representative data collected in 2018 to deepen our understanding of transportation insecurity in the U.S., illuminating how, for example, transportation insecurity is related to transportation mode use and difficulty paying for transportation related expenses.

Project Outcome

• Development and validation of a 3-item short form Transportation Security Index
• Publication of a white paper/research report providing a descriptive analysis of transportation insecurity