Mobilissimus, in partnership with the European Climate Foundation, approached the growing issue of mobility poverty—a concept often overlooked by both urban mobility professionals and the public. Mobility poverty, which restricts access to essential services due to inadequate transport options, affects daily life through missed opportunities such as education, employment, and healthcare.
Mobility poverty represents a hidden barrier that leads to limited accessibility to essential destinations or services, caused by the lack of adequate transport options; most common are the physical barriers (either as severance caused by the current infrastructure or physical accessibility on board of vehicles), poor timetables and passenger information, high cost and route inefficiencies. These lead to countless missed opportunities, from attending school or not taking part in social and cultural activities, to missed medical appointments and impossibility to reach the site of a better suited job.
To these, relatively easy to observe symptoms, a professional can add issues like discrimination on board of public transport, lack of safe infrastructure for vulnerable road users such as those choosing to use a bike, lack of ticketing integration across operators and local authorities – all leading to increased dependency on private car use. But not everyone can drive or afford a car, and usually running a car is more expensive than using other alternatives; yet, often the social norms are centred on car driving.
„Péter (40) also spends a lot of time commuting to work at the factory in Miskolc he works at, as the company's contracted shuttle waits for workers at 04:10 in the centre of Encs, so he has to leave on foot or by bike at around 03:15-03:30 to catch the bus and start his shift in Miskolc at 06:00. Similar to the almost 2-hour bus journey in the morning, after the 12-hour shift, workers get back on the bus at around 18:00 to arrive home at around 19:30.”
To address this, the team conducted extensive research in Hungary and Romania, including site visits, expert interviews, focus groups, and an online survey. These efforts highlighted the struggles of affected communities, such as elderly people facing difficulties with train services and students unable to continue education due to poor transportation.
Mobilissimus also developed a digital tool that evaluates local transport data to generate actionable recommendations. This tool serves as a starting point for local authorities and transport operators to create strategies that combat mobility poverty.
To raise awareness, the findings were disseminated through multilingual digital materials, aiming to engage policymakers, activists, and the public. The initiative serves as a call to action, urging stakeholders to enhance transport services and reduce dependency on private cars for a more inclusive and accessible community.
We are open to discussion on our work and glad to have the opurtunity to share it on events and workshops.
