"Waiting" (Delhi) by AP for the BBC
Poverty is the deprivation of common necessities that determine the quality of life. The urban poor in developing countries face enormous challenges in their daily lives. Many live in crowded slums within cities or in more remote peri-urban areas with limited access to jobs and social services. Problems of access can be linked to failures of the economy, lack of equity in the provision of services, and unaffordable transport links to enable mobility. This contributes to low living standards, social fragmentation and problems of social exclusion.
Relatively little is known about the transport behavior of the urban poor in developing countries, their residential patterns, and how these are affected by transport policy. The research that exists characterizes the transport patterns of the poor as a complex tradeoff among residential location, travel distance and travel mode. The urban poor make fewer trips per capita and trip purposes are limited in scope, with journeys to work, education and shopping dominating. Transport mode differs substantially, with the urban poor relying heavily on walking.
Read more in the gTKP Urban Mobility Topic Information Sheet on Poverty Alleviation.