Research is lacking on the social and environmental impacts and policy implications of urban transportation. The major goals of this paper are to focus on these problems by (1) examining choice and social travel linkages in the city; (2) examining the spread of transportation to the deprived population; (3) reviewing research aimed at reducing the negative impacts of transportation systems on the social and physical environment; and (4) contributing to the environmental and social quality through transportation planning policy implications. The social dimensions of travel in urban areas are analyzed in relation to hypotheses regarding social interaction fields. The current status of transportation for disadvantaged groups--the poor, the youth, the handicapped, and the elderly--is described and alternatives are proposed. The impact and implications of actual transit routes and systems in selected American cities are explored. Recommendations are made which would enable transit systems to fulfill the transportation needs of all groups, while maintaining positive land use and environmental policies. (Author/GC)