Tackling transport-related barriers to employment in low-income neighbourhoods

Richard Crisp, Ed Ferrari, Tony Gore, Steve Green, Lindsey McCarthy, Alasdair Rae, Kesia Reeve and Mark Stevens

7th Aug 2018

This report gives three actions that need to be taken to ensure public transport enables rather than constrains people who are returning to work.

Coordinated action by the UK Government, combined and local authorities, transport bodies and partner agencies is needed to make sure that:

'Stronger' models of partnership or bus franchising (through the Bus Services Act 2017) improve the availability, reliability and affordability of public transport, to make it easier to access employment.
Planning tools and approaches ensure that new housing and employment developments are well served by public transport that reduces the travel costs, times or distances between places of residence and work.
Transport and employment policy are better integrated to enable employment support providers to help clients understand travel choices as part of their return to work.

The research used innovative 'travel time' maps showing how long it takes to get to selected areas using public transport, overlaid with the geography of employment opportunities within city regions. Maps have also been produced for disconnected neighbourhoods in other parts of the UK, and can be accessed though our Google Drive.

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