The lived experience of transport structure: An exploration of transport's role in people's lives

Raje, Fiona ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3267-5526 (2007) The lived experience of transport structure: An exploration of transport's role in people's lives. Mobilities, 2 (1). pp. 51-74. ISSN 1745-0101

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Abstract

This article is oriented towards the tensions between the local character of the lived experience of transport and the more general view taken in transport policy studies. The article presents research conducted in 2002–2005 into the lived experience of transport structure: it represents a social transport policy approach to the phenomenon of suppressed journeys and barriers to travel. The research was funded by the Department for Transport with the primary goal of exploring the complexities associated with travel among different social groups and across different geographic locations. Two case studies were undertaken, one in a rural location and one in a peripheral urban location in Oxfordshire. Analysis of the case‐study materials resulted in a number of findings, the most pertinent of which is that there is a major consultation gap between users of the transport system and planners of that system. Additionally, existing methodologies in transport and travel under‐record and under‐represent the barriers to mobility experienced in the routine of everyday life within contemporary Britain.