A Case for Measuring Individuals' Access to Private-Vehicle Travel as a Matter of Degrees: Lessons from Focus Groups with Mexican Immigrants in California.

In auto-oriented communities, access to an automobile is essential for good mobility, but not everyone owns a car or is able to drive. There is a poor understanding of how individuals in these circumstances might still use vehicles for transportation. To provide insight on the nature of vehicle use by those with potentially limited vehicle access, we present qualitative findings from focus groups with recent Mexican immigrants living in California, half of whom owned no cars. The results demonstrate the varying degrees of participants access to vehicle travel not always corresponding to auto ownership, with extensive sharing of cars, borrowing of cars, and getting rides. The paper will describe the different dimensions of vehicle access that participants experienced and identify specific factors that influenced their access levels. The paper will discuss the implications of our findings for transportation policy and future research.