How Will We Get There? Analyzing Access of Low-Socioeconomic-Status Households to Destinations in Australian Cities

Abstract

Access to essential goods and services is increasingly recognized as a key factor influencing household socio-economic disadvantage within cities. Socio-economic status and spatial location partly determine differential accessibility. Spatial variation of these low-SES groups across cities, and their travel patterns, are mostly ignored by strategic transport models, which are concerned more with traffic volumes on the road network and peak hour travel. This paper expands on a method using cluster analysis techniques to identify low-SES groups on the Gold Coast (Australia) from a large regional household travel survey. This allows for the identification of the actual travel behavior of low-SES groups. Using this information, the paper advances a new origin/destination-based land use and transport accessibility model. The model uses the output from the cluster analysis, in conjunction with 2006 Australian census data, to highlight accessibility to goods and service needs for a set of low-SES groups on the Gold Coast. The method being developed provides unique opportunities for research into spatial disadvantage and accessibility in Australian cities. The conceptualization of the transport network with outputs provided at the census collection district level (approximately 200 households) ensures that the model can be run concurrently with conventional transport models