CIVITAS - Training on Social Inclusion, Coimbra, Portugal – March 22-23, 2012
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Transport-related Social Exclusion: Research Achievements and Gaps, 0
CIVITAS - Training on Social Inclusion
Coimbra, Portugal
March 22-23, 2012
Transport-related Social Exclusion:
Research Achievements and Gaps
António Pais Antunes
(University of Coimbra)
CIVITAS - Training on Social Inclusion, Coimbra, Portugal – March 22-23, 2012
Transport-related Social Exclusion: Research Achievements and Gaps, 1
Introduction (1)
 Inequality/equity issues have “always” been a matter of
concern for transportation scientists, policy-makers, and
planners … but perhaps this concern has not been clearly
expressed until the late 1990s.
Example of early work where such issues are explicitly dealt with:
Wachs, M., Kumagai, G.T., 1973. Physical accessibility and a social
Indicator. Socio-Economic Planning Science 7 (5), 437–456.
 Since then, and particularly after the publication in the UK
of Making the Connections: Transport and Social Exclusion
in 2003, the subject is attracting significant attention from
the scientific community, with numerous articles being
published each year in good-quality scientific journals.
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Introduction (2)
 In this presentation an account of the main research
achievements and gaps in the area of transport-related
social exclusion is given, essentially based on:
o a survey of the scientific literature;
o a EU research project report (MATISSE – Methodology
for Assessment of Transport ImpactS on Social
Exclusion).
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Introduction (3)
 Main sources – Authors (Institutions)
o
Antonio Páez (School of Geography & Earth Sciences, Mc Master U.,
Hamilton, Canada)
o
Fiona Rajé (Newcastle Business School, UK, formerly U. of Oxford)
o
Graham Currie (Institute of Transport Studies, Dep. Of Civil
Engineering, Monash U., Melbourne, Australia)
o
John Preston (Civil, Maritime and Environmental Engineering and
Sciences Unit, U. of Southampton, UK)
o
Karen Lucas (Transport Studies Unit, School of Geography and
Environment, U. of Oxford, UK)
o
Susan Kenyon (School of Sociology Social Research and Social
Policy, U. of Kent, UK, formerly U. of Southampton)
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Introduction (4)
 Main sources – Journals
o
Journal of Transport Geography (IF=1.706 / HI=30)
o
Transport Policy (IF=1.171 / HI=22)
o
Transport Reviews (IF=1.722 / HI=27)
o
Transportation (IF=1.875 / HI=29)
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Transport-related Social Exclusion: Research Achievements and Gaps, 5
Outline
 Introduction
 Key concepts
 Some facts - UK
 Assessment techniques
o Where and how much is transport-related social exclusion felt?
 Policy measures
o How can (is) transport-related social exclusion be (being) attenuated?
 Conclusion
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Key concepts (1)
 Social exclusion
“The process by which an individual or group is denied of access to
the opportunity of participating in the social and political life of the
community, resulting not only in diminished material and nonmaterial quality of life, but also in tempered life chances, choices and
reduced citizenship.” (Source: based on Kenyon et al., 2002)
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Key concepts (2)
Dimensions of social exclusion
(Source: Kenyon et al., 2002)
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Key concepts (3)
Dimensions of social exclusion (cont’d)
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Key concepts (4)
 Transport-related social exclusion
“The process by which people are prevented from participating in
the economic, political and social life of the community because of
reduced accessibility to opportunities, services and social networks,
due in whole or in part to insufficient mobility in a society and
environment built around the assumption of high mobility (Source:
Kenyon et al., 2002).
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Key concepts (5)
(Source: Lucas, 2012)
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Key concepts (6)
Categories of transport-related social exclusion

Physical exclusion: whereby physical barriers, such as vehicle design, lack
of disabled facilities or lack of timetable information, inhibit the
accessibility of transport services.

Geographical exclusion: where a person lives can prevent them from
accessing transport services, such as in rural areas or on peripheral urban
estates.

Facility exclusion: when the distance of key facilities such as shops,
schools, health care or leisure services from where a person lives
prevents their access.

Economic exclusion: when the high monetary costs of travel can prevent
or limit access to facilities or employment and thus impact on incomes.
(Source: Church et al, 2000)
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Key concepts (7)
Categories of transport-related social exclusion (cont’d)

Time-based exclusion: when other demands on time, such as combined
work, household and child-care duties, reduces the time available for
travel (often referred to as time-poverty in the literature).

Fear-based exclusion: where fears for personal safety preclude the use of
public spaces and/or transport services.

Space exclusion: where security or space management prevent certain
groups access to public spaces, e.g. gated communities or first class
waiting rooms at stations.
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Key concepts (8)
Types of potential transport-related-socially-excluded persons

Low-income households.

Households that do not own an automobile (sometimes called zerovehicle households).

People who do not have a driver license.

People with significant physical or mental disabilities.

People who are unemployed or underemployed.

People on social assistance and other programs to help disadvantaged
groups.

People too young to drive, or being elderly (i.e., over 70 years of age).

Recent immigrants from developing countries.
(Source: Litman, 2003)
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Some Facts (UK)

Employment: 2 out of 5 jobseekers find transport is a barrier to getting a job.

Education and training: 50% of all 16-18 year old students find their transport
costs hard to meet.

Health: 7% of people without cars say they miss, turn down, or chose not to
seek medical help because of transport problems

Food shopping: 16% per cent of people without cars find access to
supermarkets hard, compared with 6% of people with cars.

Social networks: 18% of non-car owners find seeing friends and family difficult
because of transport.

Road safety: Children from the poorest families are five times more likely to
die in a road accident than children from better off families.

Car ownership: Average per household is 0.85 vs. less than 0.50 for the lowest
income quintile households.
(Main source: Social Exclusion Unit, 2003)
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Assessment methods (1)

Several methods have been proposed/used in the literature to assess
transport-related social exclusion, essentially based on:
o
Analytical calculations of the accessibility of people to “opportunities”
(work, facilities/services, leisure)
– Numerous accessibility measures/indicators exist, but there seems to
be no consensus about the best ones to use in relation with
transport-related social exclusion – the ones from UK’s DfT are an
interesting alternative.
– Specialized GIS-based software available (Accession by Basemap),
expensive.
o Household surveys on the mobility problems faced by interviewees.
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Assessment methods (2)
UK DfT Accessibility Indicators
% of a) pupils of compulsory school age; b) pupils of compulsory school age in receipt of free school
meals within 15 and 30 minutes of a primary school and 20 and 40 minutes of a secondary school by
public transport
% of 16-19 year olds within 30 and 60 minutes of a further education establishment by public
transport
% of a) people of working age (16-74); b) people in receipt of jobseekers' allowance within 20 and 40
minutes of work by public transport
% of a) households b) households without access to a car within 30 and 60 minutes of a hospital by
public transport
% of a) households b) households without access to a car within 15 and 30 minutes of a general
practitioner by public transport
% of a) households; b) households without access to a car within 15 and 30 minutes of a major
shopping area by public transport
(Source: UK DfT, 2005)
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Interesting studies (1)

Currie et al. (2009) + Currie and Delbosc (2010)
o Analyzes the links between transport disadvantage, social exclusion, and
well-being in Melbourne, Australia, using Structural Equation Modeling (SE
and WB are strongly related, TD and SE are weakly related, TD and WB are
not related).

Hine and Mitchell (2003)
o Identifies ways in which the transport system was creating transport
disadvantage and establishes how this might be addressed through policy,
based on three case study areas (Scotland).

Páez et al. (2009, 2010)
o Defines relative accessibility deprivation indicators and demonstrates their
use with a case study of food deserts in the city of Montreal, Canada,
highlighting the difficulty of access of low-income households to food
services.
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Interesting studies (1)

Preston and Rajé (2007)
o Proposes a matrix of area accessibility, area mobility and individual
mobility as a possible schema for identifying concentrated and scattered
manifestations of social exclusion and inclusion and for suggesting
appropriate policy responses.

Priya Uteng (2009)
o Uses a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to understand
the mobility patterns and transport-related exclusion of a specific sector of
the Norwegian population, namely non-Western female immigrants.

Viry et al. (2009)
o Shows that having ‘a strong mobility capital’ allows individuals to maintain
or widen their social capital based on data from Zurich, Genoa and Basle
(Switzerland), and that not having weaken their social capital.
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Policy Measures (1)
(Source: MATISSE Consortium, 2003)
Mobility

Adapted vehicles to assist physical and sensory impaired persons, frail, and for
people escorting babies and young people + associated kerbside and building
measures.

Measures to provide access to cars – car pools, car clubs, car sharing schemes.

Short term loans of cars, mopeds, bicycles etc.

Widen eligibility criteria to provide access to transport services for excluded
groups.
Note: little appears to be known about the efficiency – benefits vs. costs – of these
(and other) measures.
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Policy Measures (2)
Physical accessibility (in time and space)

Access criteria and benchmark in planning and transport service provision.

Co-ordination of service operating times, working hours regimes, school hours
etc. with transport services and timetables, ‘open-house’ facilities.

Provide flexible routing on ‘demand’ public transport and special services.

Provide door to door transport services, utilize advanced scheduling and
booking.

Improve overall network efficiency of public and special needs transport.
Core and feeder networks - Services at fringe times/weekends - Priority
measure, enforcement - Co-ordinate public and social services transport.

Special facility, shuttle services to inaccessible locations – works buses, non
emergency health transport – feeder access within large sites
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Policy Measures (3)
Affordability

Purchase loans, leases and discounts on cars, mopeds, bicycles to eligible
groups + Assistance with vehicle taxation payments.

Green mortgage schemes for those wishing to locate in more accessible, car
free housing.

Assistance with driving education and license examination for eligible groups.

Public transport fare concessions for eligible groups (all journeys or specific
types of trip - job interviews, hospital visiting etc.)

Concessionary parking permits for physically and sensory disabled persons.

Travel mobility vouchers for public transport modes including taxis.

Integrated multi-modal ticketing regimes.
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Policy Measures (4)
Assurance

Civil police presence, neighborhood wardens, buddy schemes.

Telematics security support, CCTV, alarms on vehicle and at
stops/interchanges.

Secure lighting and visibility on ends- legs and at stops/interchanges.

Traffic calming measures.

Road safety and education measures targeting deprived ‘blackspot’ areas;
reducing exposure.

Crime reduction strategies.

Mobility training and mentoring.

Dedicated staff and training for staff to meet specific needs.
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Policy Measures (5)
Awareness

Personal mentoring/tutoring on travel options.

Personalized information provision.

Multi-lingual advice and information.

Customized information media to meet the needs of those with sensory
disabilities, physical disabilities and learning difficulties

Multi-media information on trip opportunities and fare options
(telephone/mobile, printed, internet)

Local neighborhood travel advice centers

Real-time pre-trip and in-trip information

Advice on accessible mobile local services, delivery and internet options

Provide travel information at the point of need – worksite, jobcenters,
hospital etc.
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Policy Measures (6)
Avoidance

Mobile shops and services.

Delivery services and service outreach.

‘Remote’ working, distance learning local subsidized internet access.

‘Accessible’ land-use planning to reduce travel requirements.
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Conclusion

Transport-related social exclusion is clearly a hot subject, with many
recent scientific contributions – mainly from the UK, Australia, and
Canada.

Key concepts are well defined/understood, but assessment methods
(including accessibility indicators) need to be standardized/
systematized.

Relevant policy measures have been identified, but little appears to
have been done with respect to the evaluation of their efficiency (in
theory and in practice).
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References (1)

Church, A., Frost, M., and Sullivan, K., 2000. Transport and social Exclusion in
London. Transport Policy 7, 195–205.

Currie, G. and Delabosc, A., 2010. Modelling the social and psychological
impacts of transport disadvantage. Transportation 18, 31–41.

Currie, G., Richardson, T., Smyth, P., Vella-Broderick, D., Hine, J., Lucas, K.,
Stanley, J., Morris, J., Kinnear, R., and Stanley, J., 2009. Investigating links
between transport disadvantage, social exclusion and well-being in
Melbourne. Transport Policy 16, 97-105.

Kenyon, K., Lyons, G., and Rafferty, J., 2002. Transport and social exclusion:
Investigating the possibility of promoting social exclusion through virtual
mobility. Journal of Transport Geography 10, 207–219.

Litman, T., 2003. Social Inclusion as a Transport Planning Issue in Canada.
Victoria Transport Policy Institute, Victoria, Canada.
CIVITAS - Training on Social Inclusion, Coimbra, Portugal – March 22-23, 2012
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References (2)

Lucas, K., 2012. Transport and social exclusion: Where are we now? Transport
Policy doi:10.1016/ j.tranpol.2012.01.013.

MATISSE Consortium, 2003. Transport Strategies to Combat Social Exclusion.
Transport and Travel Research Ltd, UK.

Páez, A., Mercado, R.G., Farber, S., Morency, C., and Roorda, M., 2010. Relative
accessibility deprivation indicators for urban settings: Definitions and application to food deserts in Montreal. Urban Studies 47 (7), 1415–1438.

Preston, J. and Rajé, F., 2007. Accessibility, mobility and transport-related
social exclusion. Journal of Transport Geography 15 (3), 151–160.

Priya Uteng, T., 2009. Gender, ethnicity and constrained mobility: Insights into
the resultant exclusion. Environment and Planning A 41, 1055–1071.

Social Exclusion Unit, 2003. Making the Connections: Transport and Social
Exclusion. Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, London.