Travel Behavior of the Urban Low-Income in China: Case Study of Huzhou City

Research on travel behavior of the urban low-income citizens in China is minimal. The main objective of this study is to examine the travel characteristics and trip chain characteristics of China's urban low-income. Using the travel data collected in the city of Huzhou(a prefecture-level city in east China), Two-Step Clustering Analysis is conducted to identify low-income people from the dataset. It is found that urban low-income people have lower mobility than the non-low-income. They tend to make fewer trips and of shorter distance. However, average trip duration of the low-income is longer than that of the non-low-income. Results show that the low-income individual makes most of their trips for subsistence activities, such as going to work or school. In addition, large proportions of all trips made by the low-income are undertaken by walking, electric motorcycle, and bicycle. The number of trip chain of low-income people is generally small, and the length of said trip chain is short. Finally policy implications are recommended in the context of providing transportation equity service to improve the mobility of urban low-income. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of Chinese Overseas Transportation Association (COTA).