‘Moving from Welfare to work – the role of transport’ is a follow up to the Foundation’s 2004 study on Transport & Social Exclusion in the G7 countries. This time the focus is on three countries; the US, France and the UK, and the question simply: What works? A summary report and three in-depth national reports are published on the FIA Foundation’s website.

The report looks at modes of transport for socially excluded and poor workers, who often have to ‘reverse commute’ from poor urban areas to surburban jobs, grappling with early or late hours and inadequate transport networks.

The independent report, commissioned from the Universities of California, Westminster and Paris, finds that loans for cars, motorbikes and mopeds can be the most cost effective means of improving access to work. In case studies in the United States, workers with access to a car commuted faster and were more likely to stay in their job.

Targeted, flexible and demand-responsive public and community transport schemes are also found to be effective in helping people to gain and retain employment. However these kinds of schemes are, by their nature, expensive to run, highly subsidised and reliant on long term political support – and budgets - to survive.

The report suggests that fixed route public transport schemes – bus services for example – are the least efficient in increasing access to employment for socially excluded communities. However these transport modes provide a lifeline of access to a range of services and enable a better quality of life for those who rely on them.

The report, while intended to inform policymakers about the role that different types of transport provision can play in improving employability and reducing social inequalities, also raises interesting dilemmas for politicians keen to promote both car restraint, for example through pricing, and a shift from welfare to work.

Like the 2004 study, this report shows that while the poorest and most excluded people in society tend to be most adversely affected by the negative social and environmental impacts of the car, they often also have a pressing need to drive a car of their own. For some it can be the best, or only, means to escape the poverty of their circumstances. The difficult question for governments, and all interested policymakers, is how we ensure fair and sustainable access to mobility for all.

Click here to download the report