By Adrià Serarols, energy consultant at Ecoserveis

Within the necessary energy transition, it is clear that mobility is a key sector that is already making strides towards decarbonization. Often, the focus is not only on replacing conventional vehicles with electric ones, but also on promoting social changes regarding different transportation methods, encouraging the use of public transport, trains and shared vehicles.

That being said, are we moving in the right direction? Is the change we are experiencing really addressing the different social gaps carried over from the previous model? Does it maintain them? Or could it even be aggravating them?

For climate change to take all groups into account, it is necessary to review the different uses of various transportation methods, as well as the needs driving these uses. This analysis brings to light what is starting to be called “Transport Poverty”. But what does it mean?

A clear and established definition of transport poverty does not currently exist, although the terminology used refers to the unaffordability of transportation, the inaccessibility, the inability to participate in certain social/economic activities due to the lack of transportation options and exposure to external factors like pollution (Alonso-Epelde, E. et al, 2023). Recently, the Spanish Observatory of Energy Transition and Climate Action (OTEA) conducted a study (2023) aimed at conceptualizing transport poverty and proposing a preliminary definition of the indicators to represent vulnerable users. To achieve this, the study used microdata from the Spain’s National Institute of Statistics’ (INE) Household Budget Survey to conduct a comprehensive analysis of transport poverty in various socio-demographic groups. The study’s results offer deep insights into the nature of transport poverty and its impact on vulnerable populations, which could inform political interventions and initiatives aimed at tackling this critical issue.

According to academics, women are more affected by transport poverty, access to transportation and mobility issues than men, as they have less access to transportation options. Moreover, transport design is highly male-centric, therefore failing to meet women’s needs (Ilárraz, 2006, Vilagran , 2014). The mobility challenges women face daily and the way deficiencies in public transport contribute to the social exclusion of this group are linked to social norms. Due to these norms, women generally bear the burden of caregiving and domestic work (Guasch, 1998; Tobio, 2000).

In recent years, various platforms have highlighted the need to delve deeper into social exclusion and vulnerability, especially in the urban context, focusing on mobility, the feminization of poverty, and gender inequality in mobility patterns (Soldevila, 2018; Ortiz Escalante, 2019).

In this regard, academic research has also focused on the patterns of social exclusion in transport policies, urban planning, and housing from a gender perspective (de Madariaga & Novella-Abril, 2022). Understanding gender-differentiated travel patterns is crucial for designing inclusive transport systems that effectively meet the needs of various user groups. For this reason, some academics have started to discuss about “mobility related to caregiving activities,” aiming to highlight the need to evaluate and identify how caregiving activities shape travel patterns (de Madariaga & Zucchini, 2019).

According to Sara Ortiz, a member of the Punt 6 Collective, it is crucial to think about the mobility model we want –a model centered on proximity, considering the needs of different people. The lack of a social perspective is due to the fact that most public policy mobility officials are white 50-year-old men with high socioeconomic status and a technical academic background. As a result, we lack a broader, more inclusive and integrated perception of reality.

Another important indicator should be immobility –that is, people who, for some reason, decide not to move. And it is very relevant to ask why. When you decide not to leave home, it might be because someone or something is stopping you. Is it because you simply don’t need to move, or maybe because you can’t move? Or could it be due to a feeling of insecurity?

Ultimately, gathering the necessary data adequately (separating users by gender, age, etc.) can provide valuable information about different mobility patterns that distinguish various groups of people. This not only helps us identify the areas and groups suffering from transport poverty but is also key to fully addressing how the sector transforms. At the same time, it is an opportunity to create innovative urban planning, encouraging a shift in how we understand mobility, based on everyone’s needs and done sustainably.

At Ecoserveis, we address transport poverty from different perspectives. We foster specific projects such as Fair Mobility, working on how inequalities in mobility affect the most vulnerable groups and areas in the city of Barcelona, aiming to promote more sustainable mobility alternatives among them. We have also been working on contributing to the debate around a future European definition of transport poverty, which will help design transport policies that ensure a dignified life for all people, regardless of gender, and socioeconomic, demographic, or geographic context. We also collaborate on this issue through the Inequalities in Transport Group promoted by ECODES.

* Article translated by Anna Miralta Solé.