Public Health Scotland is calling for the ‘vital role’ transport plays in health and wellbeing to be recognised in Scottish public policy, saying so-called ‘transport poverty’ is widening health inequalities.

The Public Health and Sustainable Transport Partnership Group, which is supported by Public Health Scotland (PHS) has published a new briefing on transport poverty – setting out how it contributes to poor health.

People experience transport poverty when they lack transport options that are available, reliable, affordable, accessible or safe to enable them to meet their daily needs and achieve a ‘reasonable quality of life’.

Ruth Glasborrow, PHS Director of Place and Wellbeing said:

“At a time when life expectancy is falling and social inequalities are widening, transport poverty is adding to those problems with adverse effects on health and health inequalities.”

PHS says a national approach is needed to ensure people across Scotland are support with travel as it provides links to social connections and education as well as quality nutrition.

The issue of transport poverty has been raised by community link workers (CLWs) working across Scotland’s most deprived areas, who support people through the social and financial impacts of poverty and health inequalities.

One link worker speaking about her role with healthandcare.scot shared that the biggest challenges CLWs face stem from a lack of resources.

She highlighted the importance of being supported to travel for mental wellbeing, saying that travel vouchers are especially valuable for asylum seekers in Scotland:

“It’s a shame because the services that could help people seeking asylum are not close by, they need to travel to them.

“There are people who have arrived themselves and are totally isolated. After everything they’ve gone through to get here, people are just left alone – it’s like they’re dumped.”

The PHS briefing cites key literature reviews and draws from engagement across partners in health and social care to back its calls for greater awareness of transport poverty and action to address it.

Beyond reduced community engagement, PHS says transport poverty affects health by limiting access to other key building blocks of good health – from accessing education and training being able to work and attend healthcare appointments.

Moreover, the briefing highlights that people most affected by transport poverty also suffer from increased exposure to transport-related harms, such as air pollution.

Last year, researchers from the University of Edinburgh found that air pollution in early childhood can lead to lifelong poor health outcomes and contribute to an early death.

The PHS-sponsored group urges health boards, housing, transport and other sectors to work together to increase awareness of transport poverty and influence services and policy in Scotland.

Ruth Glassborow added:

“Working with key stakeholders, the Public Health and Sustainable Transport Partnership Group has developed both a working definition of transport poverty, and a model describing the main causes and the ways in which it influences health and health inequalities.

“By encouraging stakeholders from all sectors to adopt the definition and use the model to monitor, evaluate and inform actions in their own area, we can reduce transport poverty in Scotland.”

The briefing outlines how all sectors can take action to reduce transport poverty by investing in sustainable transport, improving communication between the NHS and the transport sector and ensuring plans and strategies acknowledge the most vulnerable communities.

Beyond this, PHS says that multiple measures must be developed to better monitor and evaluate progress towards reducing transport poverty and its impact on health and wellbeing.

Read more: Money matters for poverty and health in Scotland; Creating climate-resilient, healthy communities; Analysis: Why people are left behind; Can Scotland make health fairer?; Working together for climate action and good health; Glasgow: Working together for a healthy city

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