Daily mobility of immigrants in France

Immigrant daily mobility is a virtually unexplored issue in France. Using data from a transport survey conducted in France in 2019, we study the daily distance traveled, the time spent travelling during the day and the transport mode choices. Sample population is divided into four categories: immigrants from the European Union or overseas France; immigrants from Africa; immigrants from other countries; natives of metropolitan France. A Seemingly Unrelated Truncated Regression (SUTR) model is first estimated for distance and time. A multinomial Probit is then used for transport mode choices. It has been observed that, on average, immigrants travel significantly shorter distances, prefer to use public transport and soft modes rather than motorized vehicles, and spend more time on transport. Individual or socio-economic characteristics, such as household income, age, location and conditions of public transport use, appear decisive in explaining the differences in behavior between immigrants and natives, except for the time allocated to transport, which remains significantly higher.