1. How Community Transport tackles Social Exclusion – UK experience Jeff Turner, Independent Consultant, UK jeffreymturner@hotmail.com Toolkit available at: www.geocities.com/transport_research/TransportandSocialExclusionToolkit.html

2. What is Social Exclusion? ● Many definitions to social exclusion and there is still debate about how best to characterise it, ● Many agree that ‘exclusion’ is not being able to undertake the normal activities of society, such things as: ● employment, ● adequate housing, ● decent living standards and ● reasonable health as well as ● involvement in decision-making and political processes.

3. What is Social Exclusion? ● Some argue that one way of looking at social exclusion is to see it as ‘having things done to you’. ● It is also about more than just poverty, in fact that it is about the complex interaction of a series of inequalities (eg race, age, gender, disability, etc) and it is not static but changes constantly ● Involving people and participation is, I think, one of the key benefits of the social exclusion approach – though frequently 'top- down' approaches predominate

4. What is transport’s role in Social Exclusion? ● Transport plays a role in people’s experience of social exclusion, as it influences access to many of the ‘normal’ activities of everyday life in our society; being able to get to work, being able to get to healthcare, shops, education and training. ● Transport policy and decisions about the operation and management of the transport system also have a role. Decisions in this area are frequently made by 'technical' processes that may be opaque to many people. ● Transport employs a noticeable percentage of the workforce. The transport workforce may exclude many within society through its culture, institutional practices and customs.

5. Social Exclusion and Transport – UK Evidence ● The UK developed an interest in the issue of transport in social exclusion, alongside an exploration and adoption of welfare reform policies such as ‘Welfare-to-Work’ in the late 1990’s. ● It began to appreciate that one of the issues connected to the barriers preventing more people to taking up employment opportunities maybe people not being able to get to employment locations. ● The UK Government undertook. Social Exclusion Unit – Making the Connections: Final Report on Transport and Social Exclusion ● The recognition that social exclusion has many dimensions, not just poverty, integrated other more established discussions on transport's role in other inequalities, such as gender inequality.

6. How CT tackles Social Exclusion- UK examples ● access to employment – especially service provision for early shift work etc. ● Innovative demand-responsive transit services – transit services that provides on-demand door-to-door transport service ● Accessible dial-a-ride services – door-to-door services for particular social groups, usually those with mobility impairments. ● Group minibus hire – Allowing community groups and voluntary organisations to hire small vehicles.

7. How CT tackles Social Exclusion- UK examples ● Access to shops – Operating regular services for members to access major shopping centres or food stores ● Building social capital and social networks- by bringing people together to reduce social isolation and maintain social networks. ● Employment and Skills Community transport can also offer volunteering opportunities that can build people's confidence on their way to employment ● Contract services such as school buses - secure contract thus involving not-for-profit organisations in the provision of transport

8. Other policy measures – lessons from the UK ● A Technical planning approach, called Accessibillty Planning (with GIS-based tools) was adopted as a way of tackling social exclusion. ● Legislation was put in place that boosted the role of local transport planning. As part of this, all local authorities must by law put in place accessibility planning for access to jobs, healthcare, education, access to food. ● Indicators for accessibility were developed for local authorities to support action. UK local authorities by legislation must report on these indicators but no targets yet.

9. Other policy measures – lessons from the UK ● Development of complex set of analysis and indicators  Education indicators  Healthcare indicators  Employment indicators  Food store indicators ● Example from My home town  85.2% and 99.7% of households are within 30 minutes and 60 minutes respectively of a hospital by bus. ● Targets for these indicators vary by local authority and indicator

10. Other policy measures – lessons from the UK ● Private-sector ownership of UK transit services (outside London) led to a concentration of services on the main routes and the main towns away from peripheral housing estates, rural areas ● Regulations are changed to allow CT's to operate conventional and more innovative bus services under existing community transport operating licences. ● Review of bus subsidies away from fuel subsidy approach ● The UK approach is flawed by the lack of a focus on public participation. There is insufficient focus on involving communities and people who are socially exlcuded and includinig them.