How do people make decisions on where, when, and how to commute? And how did the pandemic crisis affect their commuting patterns? Based on exploratory interviews in Lima and family chronicles collected in Bogotá during 2020; and a second round of interviews in six low-income areas in the peripheries of these two cities during 2021, this article offers a panoramic view of the changes experienced in low-income neighbourhoods and their families during these recent years of pandemic. These changes bring to light the role of intra-household arrangements regarding mobility and accessibility. We suggest that mobility and accessibility can better be understood on a more systemic level (influenced by intra-household arrangements), as a collective phenomenon (based on the household’s resources and the household’s needs), and even as a collective decision-making process.

How do people make decisions on where, when, and how to commute? And how did the pandemic crisis affect their commuting patterns? Based on exploratory interviews in Lima and family chronicles collected in Bogotá during 2020; and a second round of interviews in six low-income areas in the peripheries of these two cities during 2021, this article offers a panoramic view of the changes experienced in low-income neighbourhoods and their families during these recent years of pandemic. These changes bring to light the role of intra-household arrangements regarding mobility and accessibility. We suggest that mobility and accessibility can better be understood on a more systemic level (influenced by intra-household arrangements), as a collective phenomenon (based on the household’s resources and the household’s needs), and even as a collective decision-making process.