'Mind the Gap': New inquiry reports transport system excluding majority of Scots

A new report published today (Tuesday 17 June) by the Cross Party Group on Sustainable Transport reveals that Scotland’s transport system is systematically excluding many Scots — especially women, disabled people, children, and those on low incomes.

read the report

The inquiry report, Mind the Gap, finds that transport poverty — the lack of affordable, accessible, safe, reliable, and available transport — is a widespread but overlooked issue that is deepening inequality across Scotland. The report warns that the current transport system, overly focused on car travel and commuting, fails to support the short, everyday journeys that many people rely on.

The report, prepared by CPG secretariat Transform Scotland, draws on evidence presented to the Group by a variety of witnesses, including Public Health Scotland, the Scottish Women’s Budget Group, the Scottish Youth Parliament, Sustrans and Disability Equality Scotland.

To make progress, the report calls on the Scottish Government to:

Establish a clear definition of transport poverty and collect detailed, disaggregated data to track and address its multiple dimensions, including affordability, accessibility, availability, reliability, and safety.
Tackle transport inequalities by mandating co-design with affected groups, applying equality budgeting, and requiring health impact assessments to ensure decisions address the needs of those most disadvantaged.

Group convener Graham Simpson MSP said:

“Transport has a vital role in delivering a fairer society and enabling everyone in Scotland to have equal access to daily life, work, education and community wellbeing. Our recommendations will go some way to remove some of the barriers that limit mobility and reinforce social and economic inequalities through our transport system.”

Report author Laura Hyde-White said:

“This mismatch between lived experience and policy focus is leaving many people quite literally left behind. We must ask: who is benefitting from our transport system – and who is being excluded?

“Car dependency is harmful for everyone, yet we force people into driving by failing to provide safe walking routes or reliable public transport to the places we all need to go – school, work, the shops, the GP. This doesn’t just isolate people – it shuts them out of education, jobs, and vital services, and traps them in poverty and poor health.”

The report’s findings were presented at a recent Cross Party Group meeting in the Scottish Parliament, attended by Cabinet Secretary for Transport Fiona Hyslop MSP.