The North is made up of hugely diverse communities and areas. From our towns and cities with thriving economic hubs, to rural villages, national parks, and coastal communities.
At Transport for the North, our vision is of a thriving North of England with world class transport to drive sustainable economic growth – with benefits to communities and businesses across these diverse regions.
We want everyone to have a transport network that doesn’t limit their opportunities to access work, or hinder their ability to travel for leisure. But we know there are areas that suffer from inadequate services – a lack of bus routes, delayed trains, congested roads, and a lack of safe space for walking and cycling. These circumstance lead to transport-related social exclusion, and we need to do more to help eradicate that from our society.
Put simply, transport-related social exclusion (TRSE) is where limited access to transport means that people cannot fully participate in society in the way they would like. This includes being able to access a good education, having meaningful and gainful employment, connecting with friends and family, and being able to access leisure facilities, tourist attractions, and the natural environment.
TRSE can have a severe effect on people who are already affected by poverty and deprivation – a lack of an affordable and convenient bus or train service, for example, can be a major barrier to access to work, even if there are job opportunities in the area. This could also mean that, to access a suitable job, people are forced into owning and maintaining a car, even where this means spending more than they can afford.
But TRSE is about more than poverty and affordability – a young person with a disability may find that the lack of accessible public transport means that they’re unable to pursue the type or level of education that they aspire to, or an older person may find that a lack of regular bus services means that they’re increasingly isolated from friends and family.
TRSE can even arise as an effect of investment in the transport system – for example, widening a road or junction can mean children are unable to walk to a nearby park, or ride their bike to school.
TRSE is a complex issue – it has many potential causes and consequences, and can vary significantly across relatively small areas, or across population groups within the same suburb or village.
There is a growing body of academic and other research on this topic, some of which draws on data gathered in the UK, and several city or town-specific studies have been conducted in the North of England. However, there is a clear evidence gap when it comes to the nature, extent, causes and consequences of TRSE across the North.
The evidence that is currently available shows us that TRSE can be caused by the distribution and design of transport infrastructure, by the frequency and availability of services and by cost, but also by fear of crime, experiences of harassment and discrimination, and by the views people hold about different modes of transport.
We need to understand how these many aspects work in combination so we can start to address TRSE – and this is what Transport for the North is doing through a new research programme.
Our research on TRSE has two parts – first, Transport for the North has commissioned Social Research Associates (SRA) and Temple to conduct a survey, focus groups and interviews on TRSE with members of the public and transport stakeholders.
Second, Transport for the North is conducting survey research with local authorities and charities and community groups who work with socially excluded populations. The outcomes of these two complementary research projects will be combined with cutting-edge secondary data analysis to produce a highly detailed evidence base on TRSE for the whole of the North.
For the survey, we are inviting Councillors and Officers from Local Authorities and those working for charities and community groups from across the North of England to take part. Respondents to this survey will each be asked to provide a brief case study of a specific neighbourhood that they are familiar with through their work.
Through gathering and analysing many of these neighbourhood-level insights, we’ll be able to build up a rigorous picture of what TRSE looks like in different areas of the North.
Alongside this survey, SRA and Temple will be getting in touch with members of the public and transport stakeholders to take part in this side of the research. They will be engaging with people through online panels, over the phone, and through community groups in five areas of the North.
To ensure a fair sample that is representative of the population, participants will be approached directly by the researchers, and it is not possible for members of the public to ‘sign up’ to be part of this survey.
Councillors and Officers working for Local Authorities in the North of England, and those who work for charities and community groups, can access the survey here. We want to gather as many local area insights as possible through this survey, and would encourage multiple responses from within a single Local Authority area.
We also encourage Local Authorities to share the survey with charities and community groups in their area that work with populations affected by poverty, deprivation, and social exclusion.
Learn more about how to complete the survey here.
The qualitative local area insights gathered through the Transport for the North survey and the work that SRA and Temple are conducting with members of the public and transport stakeholders will provide a rigorous evidence base on TRSE for the North.
Once we have this evidence, Transport for the North will work with our partners and stakeholders to identify responses to TRSE, and will use this to deliver better opportunities for all.