Transportation disadvantage and social exclusion in Pakistan

Abstract

Transportation disadvantage denotes the issues of accessibility that affect individual’s travel chances, mobility characteristics and choice of activities. On the other hand, social exclusion is a theoretical concept about the inability of individuals to live like normal ‘others’ of their society because of certain economic and social problems. Research on the links between these two issues has flourished in the past fifteen years, mainly in the developed countries where a significant portion of population is considered socially excluded and accessibility disadvantaged. Literature from the developing countries remains limited where the vulnerable population might be in majority and the characteristics of problem can be significantly different from those in the developed countries. Quantification of the problem and its long term impacts on individual’s activity participation in different social and cultural contexts, particularly from Asia, remain the major area of further research on this topic.

This study has explored the links between transport disadvantage and social exclusion in Pakistan. The macro level analysis of the problem used the national dataset of the 2007 Pakistan Time Use Survey to quantify the association between household’s proximity to public transport and basic land use services and its level of social disadvantage (n=19,366); and further examines the nature of mobility disadvantage from individual’s travel behavior characteristics (n=37,830). Building on the insights from the macro level analysis, the study collected data on public transport availability, affordability and quality of transport fleet in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Results highlighted that majority of population in the study area faced limited access to bus service and was mostly currently served by inferior quality Wagon and Suzuki vehicles. Residents of Islamabad were more disadvantaged than Rawalpindi because of limited network coverage and lower residential densities in the capital city.

Additionally, a detailed questionnaire survey was also carried out to measure long term activity travel behavior survey of 240 adult respondents from four case study sites facing reduced accessibility to public transport network in the study area. Poor respondents expressed that their household transport expenditures were as high as 24 % of the monthly income, making public transport based mobility unaffordable for the low income population, including women, students, unemployed and those living in suburban areas. Women travelers were more disadvantaged as the relied more heavily on personal means of transportation due to their safety and honor concerns. The survey data was used to measure the impact of various public transport related issues on individual’s long term activity participation in various discretionary activities as an indicator of social exclusion. Results from negative binomial regression analysis found that respondents, particularly in suburban or low density areas, often reduced their discretionary activities due to lack of persona transport or issues with public transport affordability and quality.

The study points out that gender, income and geography form three elementary aspects of the problem. Furthermore, sociocultural context plays an important role in shaping the complex links between them. A majority of population, including women, students, rural residents and low income groups seem to be disproportionally affected. Problem results in widening mobility gaps between gender and urban rural areas, reduced discretionary travel and overreliance on personal automobiles among adult women, to name a few. The study concludes that there is a need for an integrated land use and transport management perspective with particular focus on the gender dimensions, so as to reduce poverty and facilitate individuals’ access to resource and social inclusion in the country.