IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envirb/v52y2025i4p985-1001.html

How does delivery service change food accessibility: A modified 2-step floating catchment area method

Author

Listed:
  • Grace Jia
  • Ram Pendyala
  • Cynthia Chen

Abstract

Existing methodology on food accessibility predominately focuses on on-premise services, that is, dine-in and shopping at stores, which assumes a linear distance decay property (the closer, the higher accessibility). Access to delivery services is fundamentally different from that to on-premise stores. Stores with close proximity (within an inner boundary) are less desirable for delivery due to delivery fees, and there is an outer boundary beyond which deliveries are unavailable, both challenging the assumption of increasing impediment with distance. These two boundaries form a donut shape for delivery services. We propose a modified 2-step floating catchment area method that incorporates the donut shape, accounts for both demand and supply, and examines the diversity of food options. Using Seattle as a case study, our results show that delivery services increase restaurant and fast-food accessibility in areas where there is already good accessibility (e.g., downtown Seattle for restaurants and South Seattle for fast-food). Given South Seattle is where low-income and low-access households concentrate, the increase in accessibility to fast-food may not be desired. Interestingly, with delivery services, more low-income or low-access households (those who live far from grocery stores) have better accessibility to fresh produce from grocery stores compared to the rest of the population. And the newly created Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) online program appears to miss low-access households. These findings have important implications for policymakers and stakeholders seeking to improve food accessibility in urban areas through delivery services.

Suggested Citation

  • Grace Jia & Ram Pendyala & Cynthia Chen, 2025. "How does delivery service change food accessibility: A modified 2-step floating catchment area method," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 52(4), pages 985-1001, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirb:v:52:y:2025:i:4:p:985-1001
    DOI: 10.1177/23998083241312369
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23998083241312369
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/23998083241312369?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. ver Ploeg, Michele & Breneman, Vince & Farrigan, Tracey & Hamrick, Karen & Hopkins, David & Kaufman, Phillip & Lin, Biing-Hwan & Nord, Mark & Smith, Travis A. & Williams, Ryan & Kinnison, Kelly & Olan, 2009. "Access to Affordable and Nutritious Food: Measuring and Understanding Food Deserts and Their Consequences: Report to Congress," Administrative Publications 292130, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    2. Antonio Páez & Ruben Gertes Mercado & Steven Farber & Catherine Morency & Matthew Roorda, 2010. "Relative Accessibility Deprivation Indicators for Urban Settings: Definitions and Application to Food Deserts in Montreal," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 47(7), pages 1415-1438, June.
    3. Martínez, L. Miguel & Viegas, José Manuel, 2013. "A new approach to modelling distance-decay functions for accessibility assessment in transport studies," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 87-96.
    4. Rafael H. M. Pereira & Tim Schwanen & David Banister, 2017. "Distributive justice and equity in transportation," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(2), pages 170-191, March.
    5. Weibull, Jorgen W., 1976. "An axiomatic approach to the measurement of accessibility," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(4), pages 357-379, December.
    6. Bonanno, Alessandro, 2012. "Food Deserts: Demand, Supply, and Economic Theory," Choices: The Magazine of Food, Farm, and Resource Issues, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 27(3), pages 1-4.
    7. O'Hara, Sabine & Toussaint, Etienne C., 2021. "Food access in crisis: Food security and COVID-19," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    8. Cheng, Jianquan & Bertolini, Luca, 2013. "Measuring urban job accessibility with distance decay, competition and diversity," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 100-109.
    9. Silva, Cecília & Altieri, Marcelo, 2022. "Is regional accessibility undermining local accessibility?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    10. repec:plo:pone00:0218773 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Wiktor L. Adamowicz & Joffre D. Swait, 2013. "Are Food Choices Really Habitual? Integrating Habits, Variety-seeking, and Compensatory Choice in a Utility-maximizing Framework," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 95(1), pages 17-41.
    12. Morland, K. & Wing, S. & Roux, A.D., 2002. "The contextual effect of the local food environment on residents' diets: The atherosclerosis risk in communities study," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 92(11), pages 1761-1767.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cascetta, Ennio & Cartenì, Armando & Montanino, Marcello, 2016. "A behavioral model of accessibility based on the number of available opportunities," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 45-58.
    2. Wang, Chih-Hao & Chen, Na, 2015. "A GIS-based spatial statistical approach to modeling job accessibility by transportation mode: case study of Columbus, Ohio," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 1-11.
    3. Gonçalves, Gustavo Maciel & Maraschin, Clarice & Maffini, Ana Luisa, 2025. "An adapted centrality index to assess spatial accessibility in street networks: Application to two medium-sized cities in Brazil," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    4. Jin, Tanhua & Cheng, Long & Wang, Kailai & Cao, Jun & Huang, Haosheng & Witlox, Frank, 2022. "Examining equity in accessibility to multi-tier healthcare services across different income households using estimated travel time," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 1-13.
    5. Halás, Marián, 2025. "Distance-decay function alternatives based on mobile phone location data," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    6. Grindal, Todd & Wilde, Parke & Schwartz, Gabe & Klerman, Jacob & Bartlett, Susan & Berman, Danielle, 2016. "Does food retail access moderate the impact of fruit and vegetable incentives for SNAP participants? Evidence from western Massachusetts," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 59-69.
    7. Luz, Gregório & Barboza, Matheus H.C. & Portugal, Licinio & Giannotti, Mariana & van Wee, Bert, 2022. "Does better accessibility help to reduce social exclusion? Evidence from the city of São Paulo, Brazil," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 186-217.
    8. Luz, Gregorio & Barboza, Matheus Henrique Cunha & da Silva Portugal, Licinio & Giannotti, Mariana & van Wee, Bert, 2022. "Does better accessibility help to reduce social exclusion? Evidence from the City of São Paulo, Brazil," SocArXiv 2p896, Center for Open Science.
    9. Soukhov, Anastasia & Ravensbergen, Léa & Dorantes, Lucía Mejía & Páez, Antonio, 2025. "Towards completely caring 15-minute neighbourhoods," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    10. Bantis, Thanos & Haworth, James, 2020. "Assessing transport related social exclusion using a capabilities approach to accessibility framework: A dynamic Bayesian network approach," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    11. Halás, Marián & Klapka, Pavel & Kladivo, Petr, 2014. "Distance-decay functions for daily travel-to-work flows," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 107-119.
    12. Amy Hillier & Tony Smith & Carolyn C Cannuscio & Allison Karpyn & Karen Glanz, 2015. "A Discrete Choice Approach to Modeling Food Store Access," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 42(2), pages 263-278, April.
    13. Jomehpour Chahar Aman, Javad & Smith-Colin, Janille, 2020. "Transit Deserts: Equity analysis of public transit accessibility," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    14. Barboza, Matheus H.C. & Carneiro, Mariana S. & Falavigna, Claudio & Luz, Gregório & Orrico, Romulo, 2021. "Balancing time: Using a new accessibility measure in Rio de Janeiro," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    15. Costa, Cayo & Ha, Jaehyun & Lee, Sugie, 2021. "Spatial disparity of income-weighted accessibility in Brazilian Cities: Application of a Google Maps API," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    16. Rosik, Piotr & Stępniak, Marcin & Komornicki, Tomasz, 2015. "The decade of the big push to roads in Poland: Impact on improvement in accessibility and territorial cohesion from a policy perspective," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 134-146.
    17. Cascetta, Ennio & Cartenì, Armando & Henke, Ilaria & Pagliara, Francesca, 2020. "Economic growth, transport accessibility and regional equity impacts of high-speed railways in Italy: ten years ex post evaluation and future perspectives," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 412-428.
    18. Gao, Xing & Engeda, Joseph & Moore, Latetia V. & Auchincloss, Amy H. & Moore, Kari & Mujahid, Mahasin S., 2022. "Longitudinal associations between objective and perceived healthy food environment and diet: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    19. Barboza, Matheus H.C. & Giannotti, Mariana & Grigolon, Anna B. & Geurs, Karst T., 2024. "A comparative analysis of leisure accessibility and equity impacts using location-based and space–time accessibility metrics," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    20. Rosik, Piotr & Pomianowski, Wojciech & Komornicki, Tomasz & Goliszek, Sławomir & Szejgiec-Kolenda, Barbara & Duma, Patryk, 2020. "Regional dispersion of potential accessibility quotient at the intra-European and intranational level. Core-periphery pattern, discontinuity belts and distance decay tornado effect," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envirb:v:52:y:2025:i:4:p:985-1001. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.