Unaffordable Fare: Cost of Public Transportation for Low-Income Commuters Working at Chicago, Illinois, Midway International Airport

Abstract

For airport employers, ensuring that the many low-income people employed as baggage handlers and retail salespeople, among others, can get to work ensures the continued efficient operations of the airport and the prosperity of the regional economy. However, high and increasing costs coupled with low wages make commutes unaffordable and constrain employees’ ability to get to their jobs. By using a case study of Chicago, Illinois, Midway International Airport, this research measures the extent to which low-income employees commuting to work at the airport by public transportation could afford their commute in 2011. The results of this analysis suggest that the cost of commuting on public transportation is beyond the means of a low-income budget. Furthermore, that fewer low-income commuters take public transportation as its affordability declines suggests that, although the availability and timeliness of public transportation favor low-income commuters compared with all commuters on average, the cost of public transportation may play a role in determining whether low-income commuters choose to work at the airport. These results promote interventions to increase affordability and expand accessibility to public transportation for low-income commuters to the airport.