Workshop 7b report: Sustainable transport systems designed to meet the needs of both users and residents

Abstract

The provision of public transport should address not only users' but also non-users’ needs which span beyond traditional accessibility to cover affordability, reliability, sustainability, safety, health, and ultimately equity. Budget constraints often means that trade-offs among these aspects of a transport system are inevitable. While trade-offs are often made based on traditional cost benefit analysis, economists and researchers increasingly account for social and environmental impacts of public transport provision. Workshop 7b of the 18th International Conference on Competition and Ownership in Land Passenger Transport set out to address the factors that contribute to decision-making processes and the challenges of implementing new approaches. It included ten papers which report evidence about transport poverty, accessibility index, value of travel time saving for children, personal safety on public transport, social inclusion, community building, and service time extension for special events. The workshop discussed what factors should be considered in transport service designs to make transport systems more equitable and inclusive for users and non-users and what implications does transport service design and accessibility have for community building. Drawing on these discussions, the workshop developed a set of research and policy recommendations designed to cater diverse users and needs.