Comparing Access to Services by Public and Private Transport in Ireland to Measure Transport Poverty

Transport plays a vital role in social inclusion, enabling people to access essential services and opportunities. Thus, while striving to reduce carbon emissions in the transport sector, the European Union (EU) must balance its environmental targets with “social sustainability” goals and address related challenges. The EU has then proposed establishing a Social Climate Fund to support households at risk of transport poverty and reduce social exclusion risks. However, measures that can help tackle this issue are either poorly defined or depending solely on survey data. This paper aims to provide analytical evidence of transport poverty in the Republic of Ireland, using high-resolution public and private transport networks and identifying where and why people might be at risk of experiencing transport poverty. The contribution to the policy discussion focuses on transport availability as the basis for the analysis. Preliminary results suggest significant differences when comparing access to opportunities, or services, by car or by public transport. With regard to the latter, the number of individuals below a predefined accessibility “sufficiency threshold” varies significantly between rural areas, or near the country border areas, and urban settings. Future work will include a broader variety of destinations and transport poverty dimensions, such as affordability and digital connectivity, population dynamics scenarios, travel demand indicators, and socioeconomic metrics.

GIORDANO Alessandro;  AYCART Javier;  IBÁÑEZ Juan Nicolás; 

2025-07-03

Springer Nature Switzerland

JRC135463

978-3-031-85578-8 (online),   

2196-5552 (online),   

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-85578-8_88,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC135463,   

10.1007/978-3-031-85578-8_88 (online),