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Towards participatory, pro-poor transport policy

Transport is a necessary input to urban life, providing the means of access from home to activity. It plays a key role in people’s lives, providing them with access to opportunities. Only recently have planners begun to consider the social, environmental and poverty impacts of transport interventions. Auditing transport for efficiency and anti-poverty effects is still in its infancy.

A research initiative brought together the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), the University of Wolverhampton’s Centre for International Development and Training (CEDT), the University of Loughborough’s Water, Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC) and partners in Ghana, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe to provide guidance on the development of urban transport planning and policies. The project’s outputs show how transport development policy can strengthen poverty alleviation objectives. It emphasises the need to understand the nature of household activity patterns within urban communities and the role (both current and desired) of transport in meeting the livelihoods aspirations of their residents. It also addresses the ways in which transport influences how well other sectors, such as health, education and employment, operate and deliver benefits.

There are problems with traditional approaches to transport research and planning: models to forecast future demand for transport focus on average values and patterns and thus conceal much of the detail and variation in demand which is more representative and of concern to the individual. This research shows how the planning process can be complemented by a better understanding of household activity patterns, and the impacts and implications of travel on livelihoods through participatory enquiry and processes. This includes:

Ideally, carrying out a poverty audit of transport at all stages of project development to identify possible outcomes of intervention in terms of impacts on activities of the poor and to suggest remedial measures. Indicators to measure transport performance include: efficiency and effectiveness, impacts on safety risks and the environment, and impacts on poor people’s livelihoods.
The use of Participatory Urban Analysis (PUA) to provide an understanding of the transport requirements and constraints experienced by the urban poor which hinder livelihood outcome achievements and how transport activity patterns relate to utilisation of health, education and other services. This complements quantitative methods such as a transport inventory of service availability, household surveys, and activity analyses at a household level.
Accommodating users’ perceptions of transport need in policy development. In Colombo, access to main ‘activity centres’ was found to be important, and in Harare, transport was critical to employment (both formal and informal). In Accra, transport was crucial for the livelihoods of disabled people.

An understanding of the linkages between transport development and poverty alleviation is still unclear. The way in which the benefits of transport interventions are distributed is uncertain and requires more research. Stakeholder consultation is of critical importance as a means of giving ownership of transport development to those most critically dependent on it.

The urban transport sector (central government institutions, municipality institutions, citizen groups, private companies and NGOs) and stakeholders (regulators, planners, operators, and users) must have the capacity, such as appropriate training and skills, for participatory enquiry and analysis. Especially as decision-making is being decentralised, it is important that the staff who are making decisions and implementing projects are aware of and are trained in all techniques pertaining to their responsibilities.

Source(s):
‘Activity patterns, transport and policies for the urban poor: urban mobility planning guidelines: final report’ by the Transport Research Laboratory, April 2003

Funded by: DFID (IUDD R7789)

id21 Research Highlight: 30 June 2004

Further Information:
Philip Scott Jones
Centre for International Development and Training
University of Wolverhampton
Telford Campus
Telford TF2 9NT
UK

Tel: 44 (0) 1902-323219
Fax: 44 (0) 1902-323212
Contact the contributor: P.S.Jones@wlv.ac.uk

University of Wolverhampton, UK

M. Sohail
Water, Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC)
Loughborough University
Leicestershire LE11 3TU
UK

Tel: 44 (0) 1509 222885
Fax: 44 (0) 1509 211079
Contact the contributor: m.sohail@lboro.ac.uk

Loughborough University, UK

Annabel Davis
TRL Limited
Crowthorne House, Nine Mile Ride,
Wokingham, Berkshire RG40 3GA

Tel: 44 (0) 1344 770398
Fax: 44 (0) 1344 770356
Contact the contributor: adavis@trl.co.uk

TRL Limited, UK

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