Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
may be extended further by using a 'before and
after' approach to evaluate the accessibility benefits
of new policy measures and to test the cost-
effectiveness of future policy options (Nutley
1985).
problems, then either a more specific survey is
required or conclusions have to be inferred by
indirect methods. Thus variations in the popularity
of destinations may reflect differential accessibility.
Households and persons without cars will be
expected to have distinct travel patterns, which
should be examined for signs of access difficulties.
Variations in travel frequencies among population
sub-groups would reveal those with low mobility
rates, although whether these are due to choice or
hardship is a matter for further enquiry. Case
studies employing such approaches include
Banister (1980), Smith and Gant (1982) and
Nutley and Thomas (1992; 1995) (Box 35.4).
Mobility surveys
Questionnaire surveys to discern circulation
patterns in rural areas are fairly commonly used
by local authorities and consultants as well as by
academics, but, as cautioned above, these tend to
emphasise mobility. Where the main interest is
accessibility, or the detection of transport-related
Box 35.4
Rural mobility in Northern Ireland
Questionnaire surveys of rural travel patterns represent
a different approach, revealing the extent to which the
opportunities to make contacts over space are availed
of by people in different circumstances, i.e. how
accessibility is actually
used
. In addition, they reveal
how people
respond to
conditions of difficulty, such as
lack of accessibility. A common expedient is to divide
the population into car-owning and non-car-owning
groups, as in Table 35.1. Here, grocery stores are used
as an example of a low-order destination, and clothing
outlets represent a higher-order demand. In this study
area, in rural Northern Ireland, non-car owners either
walk to local village grocery stores or get lifts into town
in neighbours' cars, rather than use the available bus
services (Nutley and Thomas 1992). While one might
expect car owners to travel with greater frequency, the
opposite is the case for 'groceries': non-car owners
have to make frequent trips, on foot, to small local
outlets, while car owners make less frequent trips
to supermarkets in town. Car ownership
Table 35.1
Travel mode and frequency by car ownership: shopping for groceries and clothing, County
Londonderry, Northern Ireland, 1988.
Source:
Nutley and Thomas 1992.
