Background: Access to healthcare, food, and essential services is crucial to community health, yet low-income individuals with health conditions can encounter significant barriers due to lack of transportation options. This study delves into the transportation challenges faced by this population and explores the strategies they employ, particularly amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 36 participants enrolled in the Food As Medicine program at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia from May 2022 to October 2023.

Results: Participants utilized diverse transportation options, including public transit, rideshare services, government and insurance-supported rideshare programs, and personal vehicles. Barriers encompassed financial constraints, geographical distance, time constraints, and systemic issues such as miscommunication and transportation service delays. To surmount these barriers, patients employed various strategies, including staying at home, planning trips in advance, exploring multiple transportation alternatives, and engaging in online activities. Moreover, participants sought assistance from family, friends, neighbors, and community resources. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these transportation challenges, prompting participants to adopt precautionary measures and transition activities to online platforms.

Conclusions: Low-income individuals with health conditions face significant transportation barriers when accessing healthcare, food, and essential services. To overcome these obstacles, they employ various strategies and rely on support from their social networks. Transportation barriers can exacerbate health disparities and limit access to healthcare, food, and essential services. Given that multiple social determinants of health often work in tandem, a holistic approach is needed to improve these conditions, including but not limited to transportation barriers, food insecurity, housing instability, and neighborhood safety concerns. Addressing these challenges requires a multi-faceted approach that bolsters individual coping strategies, strengthens social support networks, and improves access to essential resources and services. The findings provide evidence to inform targeted policy implementation and support tailored to the needs of diverse populations, rather than one-size-fits-all approaches.