More countries collecting data on “Access to Public Transport”

Bangkok 2 December 2022—A total of 129 countries are collecting and reporting data pertaining to access to public transport by sex, age and persons with a disability as laid out in Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, a meeting recently held in Bangkok heard.

Target 11.2 of the SDGS says that : “By 2030, provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, improving road safety, notably by expanding public transport, with special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations, women, children, persons with disabilities and older persons”.

It is against this milieu that during the 13^th  meeting of the Inter-agency Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators (IAEG-SDGs) held at the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) in Bangkok, the SDG indicator 11.2.1 was upgraded to Tier 1 classification.

The decision was made based on the clear conceptual framework of the indicator with an internationally established methodology, and the fact that over 50% of countries are now regularly collecting and reporting data on access to public transport. With a significant number of countries reporting, we are able unpack the global and regional performances with confidence and subsequently provide such evidence to policy makers for informed decision-making.

This reclassification comes with nearly seven years left to the endline period of monitoring the Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs), and the pressure to ensure timely data for tracking progress is provided for each target cannot be overemphasised.

Since 2017, UN-Habitat and partners have been monitoring the SDG 11.2.1: “Proportion of population that has convenient access to public transport, by sex, age and persons with disabilities” following the development and dissemination of an acceptable global methodology. 

Coverage of public transport and share of population with convenient access to public transport

Source: UN-Habitat, 2022.

In addition, many cities, especially those in Western Asia and Northern Africa and the Sub-Saharan Africa sub-regions have a high prevalence of informal transport systems. These systems depict unique characteristics, some of which include inefficient operational and regulatory structures, lack of clearly identifiable pickup and drop off patterns and unclear routes. This leaves the passengers in the hands of often unsafe, chaotic and highly polluting minibus services, yet they significantly contribute to access to opportunities and services in these regions.

 Countries and cities have a major task ahead to put in place systems for enhancing access to safe, affordable, accessible, and sustainable public transport systems, which should be integrated with safe walking and cycling. Investment in a good network of well-designed, intermodal public transport in the context of compact and mixed use planning provides an alternative to single-occupancy private car ownership, cuts emissions, eliminates traffic congestion, and has the power to connect communities to opportunities and resources.

 With Goal 11 under review next year at the United Nations High Level Political Forum, this upgrade to a Tier I indicator comes at an opportune time to package the evidence for policy makers. UN-Habitat will continue to work with all our partners including the national and local governments, and their statistical divisions, to collect data on this indicator, as well as to develop evidence-based transport policies and plans to ensure that no one and no place is left behind.