With greater understanding of preferred and frequently used modes of transportation, urban planners can design and promote efficient, equitable, and sustainable living environments. Few studies have examined the transportation needs immigrants who have recently arrived in the United States. Most of our limited understanding of this subset of the population is based on research obtained from immigrants who have resided in the United States for extended periods of time. Moreover, little is known about how post-immigration travel behaviors are affected by pre-immigration travel behaviors. This study examines how pre-immigration travel behaviors of Latinx immigrants affect their post-immigration travel behaviors within one year of their arrival to Miami-Dade County, Florida.

The findings of this study align with previous research suggesting that, among this immigrant group, multiple modes of transportation are used—with variations by sex, income, and country of origin. Unlike previous studies, however, our results reveal a relatively high prevalence of driving, particularly among men, indicating the uniqueness of Latinx travel behavior in Miami-Dade County. An important and novel study finding is that transportation behaviors of immigrants soon after arrival are highly influenced by transportation behaviors in their country of origin. This knowledge can potentially be highly relevant to transportation planners in the United States, as it facilitates the adoption of early behavioral interventions to address immigrants’ transportation needs.

随着对首选和常用交通方式的更深入了解，城市规划者可以设计和促进高效、公平和可持续的生活环境。很少有研究调查最近抵达美国的移民的交通需求。我们对这部分人口的有限了解大部分是基于从长期居住在美国的移民那里获得的研究。此外，人们对移民后旅行行为如何受到移民前旅行行为的影响知之甚少。本研究调查了拉丁裔移民在抵达佛罗里达州迈阿密戴德县后一年内的移民前旅行行为如何影响他们移民后的旅行行为。

这项研究的结果与之前的研究结果一致，表明在这个移民群体中，使用多种交通方式——因性别、收入和原籍国而异。然而，与之前的研究不同，我们的结果显示开车的比例相对较高，尤其是男性，这表明迈阿密戴德县拉丁裔旅行行为的独特性。一项重要且新颖的研究发现是，移民抵达后不久的交通行为在很大程度上受到其原籍国交通行为的影响。这些知识可能与美国的交通规划者高度相关，因为它有助于采用早期行为干预来解决移民的交通需求。