Thesis Title: Minding the Gap: Developing institutional reform to operationalise social impact assessment of fare-setting in UK public transport
Abstract: Public transport plays a crucial role in employment, environmental and social objectives. The academic literature has developed advanced methodologies to evaluate the social impacts of reducing UK transport poverty, typically with a focus on physical accessibility (e.g. distance, frequency of service, disabled access). However, these methodologies have not been adopted by industry, and academics have largely ignored the impacts of financial accessibility.
UK cities have the most expensive public transport networks in Europe. Salutin (2023) estimates that 8% of the UK population experiences transport poverty. In the context of a cost-of-living crisis, the financial issues of public transport only become more acute.
There is an important but unrealised opportunity for the UK to consider the social impacts of fares. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the risks of a public transport system reliant on fare revenues, and regulatory reforms offer a chance for bus and train operators to set fares without revenue incentives. However, revenue maximisation remains entrenched in regulatory thinking, and fare concessions are largely government-led, such as railcards, elderly and disabled person concessions, and Scotland and London’s concessions for younger persons.
The aim of my research is to understand how UK public transport institutions evolve over time, and how reform could operationalise rigorous assessment methods to understand the social impacts of fares in UK public transport. I will pursue the following research questions: 1. How have UK public transport institutions evolved, and what are their impacts on policy? 2. Was the COVID-19 pandemic a “critical juncture” for UK public transport? 3. What are the social impacts of fare policy? What are the potential barriers to successful policy implementation, and how could institutional reform help to overcome these?
Primary Supervisor: Dr Francesca Pia Vantaggiato
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