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Transport poverty: a public health issue briefing

  • Area of Work: Policy and Research
  • Type: News Item
  • Published: 18th February 2025

Public Health Scotland have published a briefing on transport poverty and health inequalities.

Public Health Scotland have published a briefing on behalf of the Public Health and Sustainable Transport Partnership Group.

Transport is essential for our health. It is one of the building blocks of good health and wellbeing and enables access to the other building blocks.

This briefing describes a multidimensional definition of transport poverty developed in collaboration with health and transport experts. It outlines the causes of transport poverty within and beyond the transport system and details how transport poverty can influence health and health inequalities.

Sustainable transport not only provides access to the building blocks of good health but also provides opportunities for physical activity and reduces the harms to health from motorised vehicles. These include pollution, road traffic collisions, community severance and greenhouse gases, which are responsible for global warming and climate change.

Not everyone has the same transport options. Transport poverty, the term used to describe the lack of transport options, has important health and social implications because it means not everyone has equal access to the building blocks of good health.

Addressing transport poverty is particularly important for Scotland at a time when life expectancy and healthy life expectancy are falling, health and social inequalities are widening, and we urgently need to ensure our transition to a sustainable transport system is just.

Read the briefing here.

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