Travel patterns of suburban high school males and programs to increase their mobility. Presented at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the Highway Research Board, Washington, January 1974.

A study of the travel behavior and mode preferences of 50 male teenagers documents their lack of dependence on public transit. They prefer private or personal transportation modes such as walking and automobile travel. Trip logs, budgets, and other information were collected during weekly panel discussions designed to investigate traveler characteristics, needs, and problems. Panelists were 15 to 18 years old, lived in three working-class boston suburbs, and had varying degrees of access to public transit and automobiles. Similar conclusions about travel patterns were drawn in each town. Automobiles and walking were preferred modes even where good transit was available. Teenagers' responses to available transportation and their expenditures to achieve mobility reflected their degree of interest in travel. That is, currently mobile teenagers travel more than less travel-oriented, but otherwise similar, youth if transportation is provided. Maturing working-class travelers felt compelled to secure their own transportation, even at high cost, because their parents and communities seemed unwilling to provide transportation that permits informal, off-peak, and unchaperoned travel. Bus and rail transit service, dial-a-bus systems, and other forms of public transportation seem unable to accommodate teenagers' needs for short-range, fast, and spontaneous tripmaking. Expanded programs to improve pedestrian facilities and ease access to automobile travel would most likely satisfy the travel requirements of the teenage subgroup.