Dr Lisa Stafford

In her own words

My journey didn’t start in transport; I commenced my career in community and human services having completed a major in psychology. One of my first experiences was working with young people with disabilities and their transition from secondary school to post school life such as education and training, work, social and recreation. Transport consistently came up as either a crucial linkage to everyday life or a significant barrier to enabling participation and that is what spurred me to shift my focus/profession in inclusive planning practice in state government, then research and education. In my recent Trips Not Made project I had a young person describe transport as a ‘lifeline to communities,’ and I thought: ‘what a beautiful way to describing the essentialness of transport.’

Throughout the past 20 years transport/mobility equity has been an ongoing focus, particularly when we are thinking about how we are planning our cities and communities to be inclusive. Transport is always at the centre - as it is the connector to everyday life participation. Now as people are being pushed to peri urban areas because of our complex housing affordability issues and living under more and more income stress, they are often further isolated because of the lack of transport options and walking infrastructure.

In the Trips Not Made project, the research looked at key areas within the whole of journey where people with disability, young people and communities are getting stuck and not able to participate in a series of different life experiences such as taking on shift work, studying, seeing friends and family, or getting health treatment. These barriers range from the ability to find a scheduled service in your area through to not being able to get to a bus stop, not feeling safe waiting for transport, and not being able to access your return journey if you are a person wanting to go out after 6pm or a shift worker and the next service is the following morning. This is a particular issue as our workforce becomes more casualised.

We need to think more broadly about transport and the land use planning interface and ensure equity and inclusion is front and centre, not an add on at the end. At the same time there is low hanging fruit we can take immediate action on. Some of these acts include making timetables more readable and accessible and that doesn’t involve a lot of money, just reshaping what exists. For example, whether we use a 12 or 24 hour clock in schedules is a simple change that can improve accessibility.

Currently the Australian Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport is under review. What the Standards don’t cover is walking/wheeling infrastructure to get to public transport, cognitive accessibility, nor require mandatory reporting – these are big gaps. Broad advocacy and action are needed across transport professions, industry and all levels of governments to ensure equity in transport is realised, as outlined in the Universal Design of Transport Discussion paper by the Transport Australian Society.

A positive experience for all

Inclusion and equity are not prioritised in our transport and land use planning and when it is considered it is often reduced to a compliance framework unless there is a champion within the project group. This is problematic and risky because we know if that person leaves, the focus is once again lost or minimised. Often the onus is placed on the person with the disability to speak up and we see the ‘emotional labour of educating’ fall on the individual who has been excluded.

Transport equity must be embedded in the transport planning process and decision making.

In Norway, equity, justice, and social inclusion is entrenched in land use and transport planning – it’s part of the practice culture mindset. Yes, you are always going to have technical issues, and there is always going to be geographic and political influences in practice. But if we have a culture that supports access and inclusion as ‘just part of what we do’ and it’s about everyone having a good universal access to a whole of journey – then we can create equity and positive user experiences, and hopefully mode shift increased patronage  – then everyone benefits.

In Australia we must reframe the conversation because we are stuck viewing everything through a compliance lens and a narrow cost benefit analysis.

We have a long way to go but I am seeing a shift in interest and passion coming through and maybe that is because of other changes occurring, including women’s leadership reshaping the dialogue on inclusive planning and design, and transport equity being a specific goal (11.2) in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Equitable and inclusive transport is increasingly being recognised as a fundamental requirement for everyone’s participation in society and there has been excellent work on transport equity internationally that we could harness. I think mandatory reporting and better ways of applying equity might be other useful levers to accelerate progress.

A new narrative

Transport is at a critical juncture and transport equity and inclusive transport is essential to achieve any kind of sustainable inclusive futures. We need to reframe how we talk about transport and convey that public and active transport are essential services and vital for individual and community wellbeing. We need to communicate and capture how transport is a crucial connector of life and livelihoods. The more visibility we can achieve that talks about the benefits and the important role of active and public transport the better.

We also need to profile our women leaders and the many ways of getting involved in this dynamic and important field as well as support entrants. Mentoring is something I value and give back. I think many of us can share reflections on having a good mentor, like I did who provided the space and support to enable my know-how and skills to shine but was also there to offer ideas and support when I needed it, without judgement. I will never forget the late Clive Dodd, civil engineer and town planner, who was an incredible mentor to me who mentored with integrity, purpose and actions.