Travel and Society: Social Equity, and Inclusion - Case Study Example

Travel and Society: issues of social equity, social inclusion and disability Travel and tourism has become part of modern man's life and the rapid growth of transport has facilitated accessibility of people for travel and has made man's journey more comfortable and easy. However, there is a greater disparity between the wealthy and the low income society with regard to the accessibility and affordability of transport. Similarly access to travel undergoes drastic changes among the town folks and people from remote and rural places. Even though transport facilities have increased noticeably as the number of private cars has increased considerably, the middle class and the low class income people still have to resort to public transport. This social and economic discrepancy in the UK society has raised issues of social equity, and social exclusion and the transport facilities offered to the disabled and the people with lesser mobility have been debatable. The essay tries to make a probe into the travel experiences of a middle class family in society, pointing to the social and statistical data including government documents pertinent to travel and society and issues of social equity, social inclusion and/or disability and mobility. The case study under consideration is that of Jack's family who lives in the rural village of Rookhope. He works in the city and is happily married to Jane, who works as a local cleaner in Rookhope itself. He has got two children- Cathy and Christopher. Cathy, his elder daughter, studies in the college in the city of Wolsingham. Christopher, the youngest son, has paralyzed legs and is partially disabled. He is an upper primary student who studies at Stanhope, a place between Rookhope and Wolsingham. When it comes to travel and transport the family faces the issues of affordability and accessibility as they cannot afford a car with the meager income they received. Thus, they had to resort to the public transport in the form of bus services. Due to the non accessibility of sufficient bus services in the right time, Jack finds it highly difficult to see that his children reach their destination in time. It was also the same with him as he used to be late to the office if one of the servicing buses was delayed or was not on service on a particular day. To add to the fuel, the disability of the youngest son made their transport even more miserable as he had to be carried on the wheel chair. It was really a pathetic condition as he had to spend almost 10 percent of his monthly income for the purpose of the transport. Another major setback was that for the health care and higher educational purposes they had to travel all the way from Rookhop to Wolsingham as their village did not have these facilities. The case study, thus, offers insight into many of the issues connected with travel in the UK society. It is evident from the above case study that Jack's family and the low income class villagers are subjected to social exclusion in transport access. According to Giddens (1998, 104) 'Exclusion is not about graduations of inequality, but about the mechanisms that detach people from the social mainstream'. Jack's family struggles to follow the main stream of the society as they are cut off from the rest of the people as they are negated of easy access to travel. This predicament of the family can have far reaching implications for the social, political and cultural lives of its members. This is very well put by Walker and Walker (1997) when the authors describe seclusion as "a dynamic process of being shut out, fully or partially, from any of the social, economic, political and cultural systems which determine the social integration of a person in society." (Walker and Walker 1997). The Social Exclusion Unit has identified disparities in the access of transport as a major barrier for effective social inclusion and has undertaken remarkable measures to overcome the problems faced by the socially excluded groups in the provision of travel services. The report published by the SEU in 2004 throws light on "the links between social exclusion, transport and the location of services" (Making the Connections: Final Report on Transport and Social Exclusion: Summary. 2003) and it tries to coordinate the services of the local authorities, transport operators and various other non governmental voluntary organizations. The report identifies that social exclusion in transport has wider implications for the secluded communities as it can adversely affect their access to work, learning, healthcare, and food shops, social, cultural and sporting activities. One understands that Jack fails to get all these common and basic services at ease as a result of non- accessibility of transport in the village where he lives. For most of these services he had to come to the Wolsingham town which was practically difficult for him to afford. The SCU seeks to offer "key services at reasonable cost, in reasonable time and with reasonable ease" (Making the Connections: Final Report on Transport and Social Exclusion: Summary. 2003) and to enable safe and trustworthy transport facilities to everyone so that all are physically and financially able to enjoy transport services that would enable their access to all the key services within their reach. The report by the SCU also points the statistical figures that undermine equal access to transport in the British society. The increasing rate of car use has facilitated access to travel to a great extent. However, the report found out that "nearly one in three households do not have access to a car, for reasons that include cost, disability and choice. People in low-income Households depend primarily on walking to get around, but also on buses, lifts from family and friends, and taxis." (Making the Connections: Final Report on Transport and Social Exclusion: Summary. 2003). For them, the major mode of accessible transport is either cycling or travel by the rail. People from rural areas very often suffer from the non accessibility of public transport and very often fail to receive the key services in time. Another factor is the unaffordable rate of transport: "Some people find the costs of personal or public transport are very high or unaffordable. Bus fares have risen by nearly a third since 1985." (Making the Connections: Final Report on Transport and Social Exclusion: Summary. 2003). Another major setback for the poor class people is that most of the services and activities are located in inaccessible places where people without cars find it very difficult to get the services in time without a car. The UK Government has spent a lot on improving transport facilities but it is unfortunate to note that they have not brought about desirable changes: "1 billion of public money is spent each year on revenue support for buses, and a further 900 million is spent on school, patient and social services transport. These resources have not been sufficiently joined-up to improve accessibility." (Making the Connections: Final Report on Transport and Social Exclusion: Summary. 2003). The rapid increase in the bus fare made wealthy people to resort to private cars for travel. On the other hand, it made the common man's life miserable as he could neither resort to travel by cars or by bus. Ridge (2002) makes clear this plight of the low income class people when he states: "When adults talked about transport they did so in the context of their overall family needs rather than in relation to the needs of their children in particular. Everyday issues of access to affordable resources and services are constant and demanding preoccupations for parents managing on a low income". As such, there is "little time or energy to engage with the extra social needs of their children, particularly in the light of their inability, in many cases, to manage and to afford their family's most basic transport needs." (Ridge 2002). It is evident from Ridge's observation that affordability of transport is the primary need of children from low-income families. The Discrimination Act made sure that the disabled and the low class people are provided with necessary travel information and that all the new developmental projects are accessible to the common public through walking, cycling or through common public transport facilities. For this, the Government has to see that flexible routed buses are promoted and that sufficient bus subsidies are provided to the bus operators. It should also ensure safer streets and stations so that there are little opportunities for criminals and thieves to operate on the public routes which the common pedestrian uses for travel. The issue of social exclusion with regard to public transport facilities remains unsolved as the Government has only limited power over the bus operators. Majority of the public transport are dominated by private operators and this very often negates the possibility of affordability. As Stephen J. Shaw (2005) pinpoints: "Most 'public' transport is delivered by private operators that are subject to market forces and commercial pressures. Furthermore, practitioners lack accurate, reliable tools: to identify those who experience transport-related exclusion; to understand the importance of access and mobility in their life-worlds; to evaluate the social impact of initiatives." The legislations passed by the governmental agencies are incapable of meeting the needs of the time. As Pauline Dibben points out the "Local government has limited ability to respond effectively to the socially excluded; bus providers are able to cut or revise services as they wish, and the discourse employed by them emphasizes costs and efficiency rather than social needs." (Pauline 2006). Thus, it is mandatory from the part of the Government to see that its policies and measures are effectively employed and implemented and that there is a judicious control put over the bus operators so as not to cut or revise services as and when they feel to do so. Another major set back to the travel facility in London is the deficiency of the National Rail System to meet the requirements for the local journeys by the Londoners. The rail system in the nation also should make sure that the major town centres as well as international transport facilities should be accessible for the people who live in remote rural areas. As the Report of the Transport Operations Scrutiny Committee identifies, "expanding the rail system in London is central to tackling congestion, improving intra-London links, assisting regeneration and improving the accessibility of town centres as well as linking London to international transport facilities such as the Channel Tunnel." (Appendix A: All Change Report of the Transport Operations Scrutiny Committee's Informative Review of Mainline Rail Services in London, p. 8). In the case study, one sees that there were not any rail lines near Jack's village and this non accessibility has added to the social exclusion of the family members in the future. Many reasons are attributed for transport related social exclusion and one of the challenges before the transport accessibility planning in UK is to tackle these issues. Helena Titheridge, Juliet Solomon (2008) believe that one of the major priorities of the "accessibility planning in the UK is the reduction of transport-related social exclusion." (Titheridge and Solomon 2008, p. 1). Commenting on the various reasons behind social exclusion in transport, they observe that social exclusion "is caused or exacerbated by accessibility problems due to, for instance, the cost, availability and design of public transport services, the location of services and facilities, as well as problems related to the ability of disadvantaged groups to reach public transport services." (Titheridge and Solomon 2008, p. 2). A close look at the factors that contributed to Jack's family's social exclusion in transport echoes the view of the writers and one can never bring about social inclusion easily unless and until these issues are properly addressed. Professor Graeme Evans and Nastaran Azmin-Fouladi (2005) postulate that an inclusive design would be the only solution to social exclusion in travel: "Inclusive design on the other hand can enable access to those 'excluded' from certain activities, and in this case remove barriers - whether actual or perceived - which restrict the ability to travel, both pedestrian and /or vehicular." There is no doubt that social exclusion puts the victims at disadvantage and it keeps them in social isolation. Thus, it is the primary goal of the governmental policies to ensure equity in transport. Talking on the importance of equity in transport, Titheridge and Solomon (2007) suggest: "if transport policies and practices are to be 'inclusive' in terms of the accessibility they permit, there need to be some kind of "ball-park" assessments of equitable accessibility and mobility levels at which people feel (or are) 'included' and at which individuals have equal opportunities to pursue a life of their choosing and are spared from extreme deprivation in outcomes." (Titheridge and Solomon 2007, p. 4). Most of the difficult travel experiences of Jack's family stem because they live in a rural village where access to transport is comparatively less. Peter White (2002, 140) observes that even though services and facilities in small towns are lesser, the cost factor for travel remains the same in villages. To quote his own words: "Services within small towns are often very limited, and facilities may be provided largely by longer routes picking up local traffic. Even in larger towns, rural and urban services are often inter-mixed, being provided by the same operator and forming part of the same cost centre." In order to facilitate transport in rural areas various grants like the 'Rural Bus Subsidy Grant' (RBSG), and 'Rural Bus Challenge' were offered by the government and governmental acts such as the Minibus Act 1977 (and, subsequently, the Public Passenger Vehicles Act 1981) have considerably helped the rural transport. However, public transport in rural areas like Argyll and Bute have not developed adequately and due to the lack of provision and flexibility of public transport in the region the people are forced to resort to private taxis which are highly costly and unaffordable for them. It is also very difficult for these people to make use of the basic social and economic services. Susan Kenyon in her article points at the sects of people who are most likely to be affected by the social exclusion in travel. According to her, "Lack of adequate transport disproportionately affects people and communities who are at risk of, or who currently experience, exclusion - for example, rural dwellers, residents of urban 'sink' estates, older people, lone parents, people with disabilities, people who are unemployed and people on a low income, reinforcing exclusion amongst these groups." (Kenyon 2002, p. 4). It is also identified that many young students in the rural area find it difficult to pursue higher studies due to the lack of access to transport: "In rural areas, most sixth forms and further education colleges are located in main towns so that staying on in post-16 education often means having to travel further a field; 40 per cent of 15- to 16-year-olds say that transport issues played a part in their decisions about post-16 education." (Young People and Transport in Rural Areas. 2000). Most rural young people who pursue their higher studies in towns get back to home very late and they are more likely to be trapped if they miss the limited number of bus services. No single policy or solution can be offered for the lack of transport access in rural areas because of their heterogeneous nature. Efforts and modes of travel for each country side vary depending upon the geographical peculiarity and the need of the people. As the Rural Transport Report makes it clear: " The heterogeneous nature of the countryside means that different combinations of mobility and accessibility constraints confront journey-makers in different localities. How and why rural transport 'problems' vary across different geographical and socio-economic conditions is rarely considered, while national statistics mask important trends." (Reports: Rural Transport: An Overview of Key Issues. 2008). Therefore, it is imperative that the policy makers and the governmental agency make easy access of transport to the rural areas through effective and timely public transport services. Transport access for disabled people is another area of concern as far as travel and society in UK is concerned. One of the major hardships that Jack's family had to undergo was the up and down transport of Cathy from and to the school. Taking him on the wheel chair to the school in such poor conditions of transport was the real challenge that they faced all the days. Similarly, offering him with the necessary health care also was problematic as the family had to travel all the way to Wolsingham. It is interesting to note the travel behaviour of disable people in the UK: "many disabled people consider private cars to be the only form of transport that is convenient and accessible. Vehicles can often be adapted to the individual needs of users, including wheelchair users and drivers or passengers with other mobility needs. People also feel that private cars are more reliable and comfortable, as well as providing a feeling of security, in line with the general population." (Attitudes of Disabled People to Public Transport: Research Study. 2004). Research has shown that disabled people like to travel in private vehicles rather than through public transport. However, poor and low income class disabled people have to resort to the public transport system of the nation for their daily routines. The Department for Transport has undertaken special measures to improve the transport facilities for the disabled. The Department's Accessibility and Equalities Unit ensures equity in transport and it aims "to make policies and provision for public transport users, pedestrians and motorists that are acceptable, accessible, available, affordable and safe, and to promote diversity in transport policy development." (Access for Disabled People). It also offers the disabled with the essential information regarding travel facilities. The Disability Discrimination Act of 2005 made sure that no sort of discrimination is shown to the disabled during travels: "Accessibility regulations requiring all new trains and buses and coaches with more than 22 passengers used on local or scheduled services to be accessible to disabled people, including wheelchair users, have already been introduced and we have announced our policy proposals for taxis." (What We Have Done: Disability Discrimination Act 2005). Another remarkable scheme for the travel assistance of the disabled is the Blue Badge Scheme whereby the disabled are provided concessions in parking. The disabled and people with mobility difficulties are also offered information regarding the travel services offered by community and voluntary transport. The Department for Transport also facilitates the use and accessibility of wheel chairs and mobility scooters for the disabled travellers. The Department also seeks to evaluate and assess the accessibility rate of public transport to the disabled. The Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC) plays pivotal role in providing timely advice to the Department of Transport on the travel needs of the disabled. The Disability Discrimination Act also demands that the service providers need to provide quality services to the disabled and show no kinds of discrimination when a disabled person approach them for any sort of services. Susan Kenyon acknowledges the competent policies made by the UK to develop local transport plans for the disabled: "The focus upon people with disabilities as the group most affected by mobility-related exclusion is demonstrated throughout government transport policy and DTLR research15, including the guidance to local authorities on the development of local transport plans16, published in 2000, which includes the promotion of accessibility with the aim of achieving a more inclusive transport system as a key objective." (Kenyon 2002, p. 5). However she feels that promotion of accessibility is the only solution to the issue. The SCU has introduced a number of competent strategies and enactments to improve the access to travel to all. The 10 year plan was set out with a view to improve public transport and thereby to eliminate any amount of social exclusion in transport. It has offered half fares on buses for the pensioners and the disabled and has supported rural and community transport through the provision of various grants with a view to address the transport needs of the disabled. Thus, the case study of Jack and his family with special reference to the issues of social equity, social inclusion and the problem of disability in transport convince one the fact that Jack's case is not an isolated one. Travel and society are two interlinked factors as lack of access to travel can adversely affect the social relations of the individual. Affordability and accessibility are to be the two pillars of a good transport system. The public transport system should be accessible to the middle class and the low income class of people. Similarly, concessionary fares should be made mandatory for the low income class of people. Special care should be provided to the public transport of the disabled and people with mobility difficulties. Social inclusion should be the primary goal of the transport system of the nation. In the promotion of the rural transport system ample care is to be provided to the socio-economic and geographical peculiarity of the region. Bibliography Access for Disabled People. [online]. Department for Transport. Last accessed 12 August 2008 at: http://www.dft.gov.uk/transportforyou/access/ Appendix A: All Change Report of the Transport Operations Scrutiny Committee's Informative Review of Mainline Rail Services in London. [online]. Last accessed 12 August 2008 at: http://www.london.gov.uk/assembly/past_ctees/trans2mtgs/2002/trans2feb26/papers/trans2feb26Item07app.rtf Attitudes of Disabled People to Public Transport: Research Study. (2004). [online]. DPTAC. Last accessed 12 August 2008 at: http://www.dptac.gov.uk/research/apt/03.htm EVANS, Graeme., and AXMIN-FOULADI, Nastaran. (2005). Accessibility and User Needs in Transport Design. [online]. London Metropolitan University. Last accessed 12 August 2008 at: http://www.aunt-sue.info/WP%20Reports%20and%20summary%20docs/Final%20Web%20Versions/PDF%20Versions/AUNTSUETransportDesign.pdf Giddens, A. 1998. The Third Way - The Renewal of Social Democracy. Cambridge: Polity Press. HELENA, Titheridge., and JULIET, Solomon. (2007). Transport Equity and the Elderly. [online]. London. Last accessed 12 August 2008 at: http://www.aunt-sue.info/WP%20Reports%20and%20summary%20docs/Final%20Web%20Versions/PDF%20Versions/JS_OportoMay07.pdf KENYON, Susan. (2002). FIT Feasibility Study: Virtual Mobility - Implications for Social Exclusion and Travel. Report from Online Consultation. Last accessed 12 August 2008 at: http://trg1.civil.soton.ac.uk/vm/onlineconsult_01.pdf Making the Connections: Final Report on Transport and Social Exclusion: Summary. (2003). Social Exclusion Unit. [online]. Crown Copyright. Last accessed 12 August 2008 at: http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk//media/assets/www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/social_exclusion_task_force/publications_1997_to_2006/making_transport_summary_2003%20pdf.ashx PAULINE, Dibben. (2006). The 'Socially Excluded' and Local Transport Decision Making: Voice and Responsiveness in a Marketed Enviorment: Abstract. Public Administration, Blackwell Publishing. [online]. IngentaConnect. Vol. 84. Last accessed 12 August 2008 at: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bpl/padm/2006/00000084/00000003/art00008 Peter, White. 2002. Public Transport: Its Planning, Management, and Operation. London: Spon Press. Reports: Rural Transport: An Overview of Key Issues. (2008). [online]. Commission for Integrated Transport. Crown. Last accessed 12 August 2008 at: http://www.cfit.gov.uk/docs/2001/rural/rural/key/07.htm Ridge, T. 2002. Childhood Poverty and Social Exclusion. Bristol: The Policy Press. SHAW, Stephen J. (2005). Tackling Social Exclustion in Transport: Principles into Practice London. [online]. Cabernet 2005 - The International Conference on Managing Urban Land. Last accessed 12 August 2008 at: http://www.aunt-sue.info/WP%20Reports%20and%20summary%20docs/Final%20Web%20Versions/PDF%20Versions/CABERNET05SS.pdf TITHERIDGE, Helena., and SOLOMON, Juliet. (2008). Social Exclusion, Accessibility and Lone Parents. [online]. Paper presented at the UK-Ireland Planning Research Conference, Belfast, 18th-20th March 2008. Last accessed 12 August 2008 at: http://www.aunt-sue.info/WP%20Reports%20and%20summary%20docs/Final%20Web%20Versions/PDF%20Versions/UKPRC%20v4.pdf Walker, A., and Walker, C. (Eds.). 1997. Britain Divided: The Growth of Social Exclusion in the 1980s and 1990s. London: Child Poverty Action Group. What We Have Done: Disability Discrimination Act 2005. [online]. Department for Transport. Last accessed 12 August 2008 at: http://www.dft.gov.uk/transportforyou/access/dda2005/whatwehavedoneb Young People and Transport in Rural Areas. (2000). [online]. Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Last accessed 12 August 2008 at: http://www.jrf.org.uk/knowledge/findings/socialpolicy/750.asp Read More