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This 2007 research aimed to document the transport experiences, and suggested improvements to the transport system, for one potentially transport disadvantaged group – young mothers and their children.
Focus group interviews and surveys were conducted with 45 young mums from around Melbourne, Albury-Wodonga and Whittington, Geelong.
When we asked young mums what it is like to get around they typically responded ‘horrible’ and ‘hard’. Transport difficulties create significant barriers to accessing services, social networks and community participation for young mums and their children.
Participants in this study reported a much lower car ownership rate than the wider community – 50 per cent did not have a car, compared to 12 per cent of all Victorian adults. In addition, one in three of those who did have a car had only limited access to it. This resulted in 67 per cent of participants being largely dependent on public transport, taxis and lifts to meet their transport needs.
Those reliant on public transport reported very high rates of difficulty accessing services and social networks:
- 74 per cent had difficulty getting to social activities;
- 70 per cent had difficulty visiting family and friends;
- 56 per cent had difficulty getting to medical appointments;
- 30 per cent had difficulty getting to their local shop and the supermarket;
- 30 per cent had difficulty getting to work or study and Centrelink; and
- 26 per cent had difficulty getting to a play group or activities for their kids.
The most significant transport issues identified by study participants related to the physical inaccessibility of the public transport system. The barriers presented by inaccessible vehicles were exacerbated in many cases by policies in some areas requiring parents to fold prams before entering the bus, and by bus drivers failing to provide assistance. These issues in particular were the cause of a great deal of distress, and in some cases, decisions not to use bus services at all. Given the heavy reliance on buses for public transport service delivery to most of Melbourne, as well as rural and regional areas, these are important issues to be addressed.
They need to make it better…not just for mums, but for everyone… so you can walk on and off easily… pram on, pram off, wheelchair on, wheelchair off, people on, people off. (Yarraville)
Other significant transport issues raised by participants included the lack of child restraints in taxis, inability to travel on weekends due to limited public transport operating hours, poor quality toilet facilities and limited ‘baby’ parking at important destinations.
This report recommends:
1. that the needs of carers with young children be considered as part of accessible transport planning, including the design of public transport vehicles, buildings and facilities;
2. increased funding for accessible transport infrastructure being prioritised to areas of high need, including areas with high numbers of young children;
3. continued expansion of public transport hours of operation and service frequencies on weekends and in the evenings;
4. development of policies to increase the usability of transport services for carers of young children including:
- a. designation and publication of when accessible bus and tram services are timetabled;
- b. removal of bus operating policies that require prams to be folded;
- c. more assistance from drivers to assist women with prams or small children to board vehicles – including to fold prams where required; and
- d. more involvement of drivers in ensuring that pregnant women and women holding young children have access to priority seating.
5. investigation of options for carrying child restraints in the taxi fleet, including the mandated carrying of child restraints by a guaranteed percentage of the taxi fleet and the development of incentive schemes and driver education to facilitate the safe use of child restraints;
6. new planning guidelines for toilet facilities at stations and on long distance trains to accommodate the needs of mums travelling alone with young children, including space for prams and places to safely seat young children; and
7. increased provision of wider ‘baby’ car spaces at key destinations such as shopping centres.
