Transportation insecurity has important consequences for people’s ability to connect to opportunity and flourish. Everyday we are learning more about what causes this hardship, who is experiencing it, how it is impacting people and communities, as well as what interventions are effectively moving people to transportation security.
-
Evaluating the Impact of E-Bicycle Incentives in Raleigh
The City of Raleigh’s e-bike voucher program allocated, via a lottery, 150 vouchers to a random group of residents in an effort to support e-bike adoption. Drawing on a natural experiment design, an evaluation of the pilot shows that not only were voucher holders more likely to acquire an e-bike and increase their daily cycling trips than those who did not receive a voucher, but also that transportation insecurity decreased significantly among voucher recipients.
-
Evaluating the Impact of a Universal Basic Mobility Wallet on Transportation Insecurity in South Los Angeles
In a partial randomized control trial of universal mobility wallets, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) provided roughly 1,000 residents with prepaid debit cards loaded with $150 in transportation funds/month for one year. Funds could be used to pay for transit, carsharing, car rentals, ride hailing, bicycle and scooter sharing, among other things. An evaluation of the pilot shows that the program had a statistically significant impact on reducing transportation insecurity among participants, contributed to people increasing their travel to different destinations, and gave participants greater financial freedom to use money they would have spent on transportation to instead use on food and rent.
-
2025 Baltimore Area Survey shows transportation insecurity rates rebounding to higher levels after declining in previous years
Johns Hopkins’ Baltimore Area Survey is the first to include the TSI on 3 consecutive survey waves, enabling them to track changes in transportation insecurity over time. Findings from the 2025 survey reveal that after declining in 2024, rates of transportation insecurity in Baltimore increased to their 2023 levels, a trend that parallels changes to food insecurity rates during this same per
-
Development and validation of a 3-item Transportation Security Index for social risk screening assessments and research into the many pathways through which transportation impacts health
In this methodological article published in AJE Advances: Research in Epidemiology, the developers of the Transportation Security Index (TSI) use statistical approaches and content expert feedback to identify an abbreviated TSI composed of 3 questions (TSI-3). The TSI-3 was then validated using nationally representative data that included a split ballot experiment. Results show that the TSI-3 is an effective substitute for longer versions of the TSI and takes less time to complete. However, rather than being able to identify categories of insecurity like its longer predecessor, the TSI-3 can only distinguish between those who are transportation secure vs those experiencing transportation insecurity.
-
Studying the impact of E-bike vouchers on transportation insecurity in Washington, D.C.
Using a randomized control trial, the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) in Washington, D.C. evaluated their 2025 e-bike rebate program’s impact on transportation insecurity. Findings from the study demonstrate that the program decreased participants’ transportation insecurity (thereby moving them towards great transportation security), findings that were statistically significant. These results provide evidence that subsidizing the use of e-bikes may be one way to effectively address transportation insecurity in urban contexts like that found in D.C.
-
TSI used to collect data on transportation insecurity among older adults in the U.S.
An article published in Transport and Health is the first to report findings on transportation insecurity among older adults in the U.S. Using the 16-question Transportation Security Index and an original survey of adults 60 years and older in Clark County, Nevada, researchers at the University of Nevada found that early 1 in 4 adults in their sample experience transportation insecurity and that transportation insecurity was associated with income, age, and disability.
-
2025 Community Transportation Needs Assessment for the State of New Hampshire.
The 6-question TSI is being included in this statewide assessment, led by Impact Consulting in partnership with the New Hampshire State Commission on Aging.
-
An Assessment of Data, Tools, and Metrics for Equity in Decisions About Surface Transportation Investments
A 2025 consensus study of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine on data, tools, and metrics for making fair decisions on surface transportation investments evaluates the Transportation Security Index. Conclusions of the study include a recommendation that Congress and the U.S. Department of Transportation fund (1) the pilot testing of tools like the TSI to measure transportation insecurity and (2) the evaluation of the impact of transportation investments on transportation insecurity using such successfully piloted tools.
-
How Does Transportation Insecurity Compare and Relate to Other Indicators of Material Hardship in the U.S.?
An article published in Social Indicators Research is the first to examine transportation insecurity alongside other forms of material hardship (i.e. food and housing insecurity, utility shutoffs). Findings show that transportation insecurity is among the most prevalent forms of hardship, that the demographic groups likely to experience it are also likely to experience other forms of hardship, that transportation insecurity and food insecurity are the hardships most likely to co-occur with other hardships, and that transportation insecurity is associated with physical and mental health at a similar magnitude as is food insecurity and having unmet medical needs.
New Hampshire is one of the fastest-aging states in the country. The TSI is giving us, for the first time, a way to gather local, nuanced data about transportation insecurity and unmet transportation needs, especially as more residents age in place here. That’s going to be essential to effective planning and investment moving forward.
JEN BUTEAU
Impact Consulting, which is using the TSI in a statewide assessment in partnership with the New Hampshire State Commission on Aging.