Tackling child poverty delivery plan 2022-2026 - annex 5: impact of policies on child poverty

Transport – Inclusiveness (improving passenger information)

Supporting work to address the inclusiveness challenges of transport for families living in poverty. The Improving Passenger Information initiative will look to provide people with as much information as possible, including information on fares and connections, in advance, to plan out transport and travel requirements.

• Costs of living

Enhanced life chances (e.g. health, wellbeing, capabilities, longer term goals)

Potential size of impact

As the package is not a policy primarily aimed at tackling child poverty, we have not modelled the scale of the impact on the target groups. The package is aimed at all households so potentially wide-reaching.

Type of impact

Research by the Poverty and Inequality Commission in 2019, found that poor travel connections and the expense of multiple tickets are common transport barriers for families living in poverty. Having more accessible information allows people to make potential savings by choosing the best rates and options and planning journeys accordingly. This may have a secondary effect on people's access to work, education and services.

Certainty of impact

Confident of positive impact given that people from lower income households are more frequent bus users.

Priority families targeted by policy:

• Lone parents
• 3+ children
• Disabled
• Minority ethnic
• Baby < 1
• Mothers aged <25

The aim is to improve public transport information for all passengers. The open data information service needs to be the reliable 'one true source' of Scottish travel data for onward use, acting as an enabler for people looking to use more sustainable travel options than the car.

Tracking progress

The National Transport Strategy Delivery Plan (NTS2) sets out how the strategy will be delivered and the transport child poverty commitments for transport will be captured under the Plan. There are regular updates on NTS2 actions providing detail on how the priorities and outcomes will be achieved, and how they align with wider SG delivery plans, such as the Child Poverty Delivery Plan.