Evaluating Transportation Affordability: How Planners Can Better Respond to Demands for Lower Cost Travel

Affordability is an important but often overlooked transportation planning issue. A new report provides practical guidance for evaluating transportation affordability and achieving affordability goals.

There is a serious disconnect between what travelers want and the type of transportation systems planning produce. Currently, the majority of transportation infrastructure spending is devoted to roads and parking facilities; this reflects a planning process that that prioritizes speed over other goals, and therefore faster modes over slower but more affordable, inclusive and resource-efficient modes. Yet, that is not what transportation system users want.

One National Household Travel Surveys asked respondents to prioritize transportation problems. It found that the highest ranking problem was not traffic congestion, crash risk, pollution or inadequate mobility options for non-drivers, the problem that users considered worst was the “Price of travel,” or what I call unaffordability, as illustrated below.