Getting There : Mobility Cultures in New York City's Bus-Dependent Communities

Abstract: Transportation planning often takes a one-size-fits-all approach that overlooks hyper-local and personal aspects of mobility. Mobility is frequently thought of as movement from ‘Point A’ to ‘Point B’; however, the concept of mobility cultures reframes mobility as a socio-cultural phenomenon. Thus, culture emerges from and reciprocally informs local travel behaviors. Mobility cultures are a lens through which to understand differences in the experience and practice of movement through the urban environment. This study frames mobility cultures as the confluence of four objective and subjective factors: travel behaviors and routines, attitudes and perceptions, the built environment, and socioeconomics. This thesis explores, compares, and contrasts mobility cultures in two demographically different bus-dependent areas of New York City: Staten Island Community Board 2 and Queens Community Board 12. Through a combination of survey, web-based ethnography, and desktop research the study examines how these four components of mobility culture manifest in the two study areas. The data show that not only is mobility extremely context-dependent, but the experience and practice of mobility are inseparable from a larger landscape of power, which is interwoven with objective and subjective components of mobility cultures.