Coping with the costs of car dependency: A system of expedients used by low-income households on the outskirts of Dijon and Paris

Living on low incomes and in a car-dependent area is often interpreted as a double burden for households, even if the two characteristics are often interdependent. While their capacity for mobility is lower, low-income households in outer suburban areas are nonetheless mobile. Their capacities in this domain should not be underestimated or overlooked. They can command a set of alternative practices or expedients to deal with car-related economic stress by a set of resources derived essentially from spatial proximity. This article aims to present and analyse the diversity of these expedients for the case of outer suburban areas around Paris and Dijon. The analysis of mobility adjustments by low-income households is based on interviews of 45 households in 2011. Our results show that mobility expedients make it possible for low-income households to continue to reside in car dependent areas by reducing their trips and by using local resources and networks to lower the costs of their car dependency. The contribution of our work is to show the intensity of these practices, which create a structured and collectively or socially built alternative system to solo car use.