Is Transport Poverty Socially or Environmentally Driven? Comparing the Travel Behaviours of Two Low-Income Populations Living in Central and Peripheral Locations in the Same City

The paper presents the methodology and results from a study to explore the relationship between travel poverty and social disadvantage at a local area level. The methodology was specifically designed to provide a tool for local transport authorities in the United Kingdom to determine how their transport policies are affecting low-income populations living in different deprived areas of the city. The research uses data from a personal travel survey and one-day travel diary with 500 adults aged between 16-65 years from the Merseyside region in the North East of England. Exploratory analysis was undertaken using multivariate regression (MR) with variables initially indicated by the UK National Trip End Model (NTEM). A better fit was found with the use of a non-linear Poisson regression modelling framework (PR) and this was extended to look at spatial variation using the local model of Geographically-Weighted Poisson regression (GWPR). The GWPR models show a clear spatial effect on the travel variances of people between the 2 areas.