Transportation- is it an issue?
People experiencing transportation insecurity are uncertain about the timely and reliable availability of transportation for themselves and the other people for whom they are responsible.
Put simply, people uncertain about the availability of transportation are not in control of when they get to work, have no control over when they can go food shopping and do not know when they can get to doctor’s appointments which makes scheduling impossible.
Transportation insecurity can be the result of having no car, having an unreliable car, sharing a car, an inability to afford the bus, or lack of easy access to public transportation.
The Flat Tire
As they look at that flat tire, an economically fragile person knows they may end up missing work which has consequences beyond missing the day’s pay. Assuming they can repair the tire, it is still a catastrophe because any missed wages jeopardize their ability to put food on the table until the next payday because that money is going toward the tire repair.
If they miss the entire day of work, they may end up choosing to pay for the car repair and pay the rent with very little money available for food, gas and other basic expenses. They decide to delay payment of the utility bill.
Going forward, the situation caused by the flat tire worsens. Catching up on utility bills just in time to avoid shut off makes it impossible to pay the rent on time. Catching up on the unpaid rent in future months is required to avoid eviction. All the while, the small amount of money available for groceries requires low wage economically fragile workers to experience food insecurity.
In our next blog entry, “There’s No Place Like Home”, we shed light on a huge issue impacting productivity and turnover that stems from being a low-wage, economically-fragile worker.
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