'We can all just get on a bus and go': rethinking independent mobility in the context of the universal provision of free bus travel to young Londoners

Goodman, Anna, Jones, Alasdair ORCID: 0000-0002-4933-4023, Roberts, Helen, Steinbach, Rebecca and Green, Judith (2014) 'We can all just get on a bus and go': rethinking independent mobility in the context of the universal provision of free bus travel to young Londoners. Mobilities, 9 (2). pp. 275-293. ISSN 1745-0101

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Abstract

This paper uses qualitative data from interviews with 118 young Londoners (age 12–18) to examine how the universal provision of free bus travel has affected young people’s independent mobility. Drawing on Sen’s capabilities approach, we argue that free bus travel enhanced young Londoners’ capabilities to shape their daily mobility, both directly by increasing financial access and indirectly by facilitating the acquisition of the necessary skills, travelling companions and confidence. These capabilities in turn extended both opportunity freedoms (e.g. facilitating non-‘necessary’ recreational and social trips) and process freedoms (e.g. feeling more independent by decreasing reliance on parents). Moreover, the universal nature of the entitlement rendered buses a socially inclusive way for groups to travel and spend time together, thereby enhancing group-level capabilities. We believe this attention to individual and group capabilities for self-determination provides the basis for a broader and more child-centred view of independent mobility than the typical research focus upon travelling without an adult and acquiring parental permissions

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rmob20
Additional Information:	© 2013 Taylor & Francis
Divisions:	Social Policy
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HE Transportation and Communications
Date Deposited:	26 Oct 2015 14:11
Last Modified:	24 Apr 2024 16:24
Projects:	09/3001/13
Funders:	National Institute for Health Research
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/64157

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