Transport poverty: An underestimated problem with huge impact

It is called a “hidden crisis” despite the fact that it affects millions of people around the world. Transport poverty affects both urban and rural people, both in the rich north (8% of Britain’s population) and the poor south (17% in Latin America). And it doesn’t avoid the Czech Republic either. The social climate plan wants to help us solve it. What is it about?

Its oft-quoted definition is: “the inability of an individual to participate fully in social life due to limited transport options.” A 2016 study by Karen Lucas of the University of Leeds broke down the factors contributing to transport poverty. Among the main ones, he cites a lack of funds, i.e. an individual’s inability to cover transportation costs within their budget. This can be caused by high public transport prices or “forced car ownership”, i.e., low-income households are forced to devote a large part of their budget to running a car because public transport is insufficient, unsuitable, or non-existent.

It’s not just about the money

However, money is not the only factor in transport poverty. Availability also plays an important role, i.e. whether individuals have easy access to basic activities (e.g. employment, education, health care, shops) within a reasonable time frame.

Shared bikes are one of the tools in the fight against transport poverty

In search of a universal definition, Lucas and her colleagues proposed the following:

An individual suffers from transport poverty if at least one of the following conditions applies to meet his daily basic needs:

  • There is no transportation option that matches the individual’s physical condition and abilities.
  • Existing transport options do not reach the places where the individual can fulfill his daily needs to maintain a reasonable quality of life.
  • Transportation costs per week leave a household with a residual income below the official poverty line.
  • An individual has to spend an excessive amount of time traveling, leading to time poverty or social isolation.
  • Prevailing travel conditions are dangerous, life-threatening, or unhealthy.

How do we measure transport poverty?

Despite the existence of this comprehensive definition, it is difficult to quantify the extent of transport poverty globally. There are few measures (such as the poverty line) and even these are often ill-defined. Proposed thresholds – for example the RAC’s recommendation that households spending more than 10% of their income on transport should be considered ‘transport poor’ – may not be relevant in all situations and ignore non-financial factors. Furthermore, data coverage is limited, with most published research on transport poverty focusing on ‘developed’ countries, while ‘developing’ countries remain under-researched and neglected.

But there are some guidelines. For example, a UK study published in November 2023 focusing exclusively on accessibility estimates that 5 million of its residents (8% of the population) experience transport poverty, with transport costs pushing them below the poverty line. The authors state: “An additional 8 million people are already in poverty before transport costs are taken into account, and these costs push them further into poverty. However, the costs are not distributed evenly and hit the poorest households the hardest.”

Surprisingly, Latin America is most at risk

How are they doing in the world?

In Australia, an estimated 8-12% of households suffer from transport poverty. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the share is 17% (over 31 million households), making the region “the developing region with the highest share of total household expenditure devoted to transport”. Eastern Europe and Central Asia are second with 11%, followed by sub-Saharan Africa with 9% and South Asia with 5%. According to STEM findings, 3% of Czech households were at risk of transport poverty in the 20% of the lowest income group. This situation may continue to worsen if we do not solve the situation comprehensively.

People who have to drive

The STEM analysis further shows that especially households aged 30-44 are most at risk from a sudden increase in fuel prices, as they are relatively more active than other groups and at the same time do not receive e.g. discounts on fares. At the same time, the greatest probability of being affected by transport poverty is in sparsely populated areas, which usually do not have a dense public transport network and are far from other settlements. So they have no choice but to rely on individual car transport. With the introduction of ETS22, the emissions trading system for households, which also extends emissions trading to the area of ​​road transport and local heating of buildings, fuel prices will probably increase from 2027.

Well-functioning, accessible, and barrier-free public transport is the foundation

The European Union supports the change

The figures show that transport poverty is not just a marginal problem. Reform of the European Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) was also adopted as part of the Fit for 55 climate legislation package, which aims to reduce European greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990. With the introduction of this system comes the possibility of solving traffic poverty. Its mandatory part is the Social Climate Fund, which will be distributed to member states in advance starting in 2026. The Czech Republic will get 2.4% of it, i.e. approx. CZK 50 billion. But for this, they must prepare a national Social Climate Plan, which will present systematic solutions to transport poverty. It can include direct compensations, but mainly investments in infrastructure and long-term and structural solutions, such as expanding and improving the public transport network, assistance with the transition to electromobility, and the transition to other, non-fossil forms of transport, especially in cities. The National Plan will probably be presented at the end of 2025.

How do they solve transport poverty in other countries?

It can be inspired by several solutions that are successfully implemented abroad. Austria’s climate bonus redistributes revenues from charged transport (and other) emissions to its citizens at a 100% rate and thus gives them the opportunity to evaluate whether they will increase their transport budget or use the money differently. The so-called Klimabonus is priced according to regional transport availability, age, and ability to move. The German government has decided to use part of the proceeds from the trading of emission allowances to finance a drastic reduction in the price of public transport across the country.

Starting this spring, France offers the option of social leasing of electric cars that are purchased and owned by the state. It thus gives low-income families in particular the opportunity to reduce the costs of their transport and the emissions associated with it, without having to cover the initial costs of purchasing an electric car. The monthly rental of an electric car costs about 100 EUR. The program was published in the spring of 2024 and due to enormous interest, it had to be suspended with an expected renewal in 2025. In Tallinn, Estonia, public transport is completely free, as well as in the whole of Luxembourg. Britain offers electric motorbikes and bikes for hire as part of the Wheels to Work programme.

The car must become a pastime

Thinking about and fighting transport poverty is also necessary in the context of climate justice. From this point of view, the goal of all governments should be to reduce the number of passenger cars. And lowering fares is one way to do that. Other tools, of course, remain the support of sustainable mobility, walking and cycling, and building suitable infrastructure for it.

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