At the nexus of grocery access and transportation: Assessing barriers and preferences for alternative approaches to enhancing food access

Introduction: Most households, especially those experiencing food insecurity, choose their preferred food retailers based on prices, rather than proximity. However, food-insecure households are often transit-dependent, further burdening vulnerable households seeking healthy, affordable groceries. This study sought to better understand the multi-faceted transportation experiences of households with varying food security levels and preferences for grocery access models designed to help overcome transportation barriers to groceries.Methods: Questionnaires assessing household's transportation modes and preferences for accessing groceries, and their preferences for proposed grocery access models were collected through intercept and online surveys.Results: Of the 578 survey respondents, 35% were nonwhite; 22% at risk for food insecurity; 29% without a household car. Respondents at risk for food insecurity had longer travel times (20 min or more) to the grocery store (35%) compared with food-secure respondents (14%), as did transitdependent respondents (31%) compared to households with access to a car (13%). Most at risk for food insecurity, low education, or nonwhite respondents preferred to drive a household car to the store, whereas most food-secure, high education, or white respondents preferred to walk. Respondents indicated they would be likely or very likely to use the following general grocery access models-grocery delivery (28%), and rideshare (22%)-and neighborhood-market based models-veggie box (50%), pre-chopped produce (36%), and extra $10 SNAP (35%). Preferences for the different models varied by respondents' demographic, transportation, and food security status.Conclusions: Results suggest unequal transportation-based access to preferred grocery stores among respondents, with longer travel times for those most vulnerable to food insecurity. Respondents' preferences for grocery access models-which may have changed since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic-provide insight for designing a multi-faceted policy approach to transportation barriers to grocery access.