Project Aims

Dr Lisa Stafford is the lead researcher of this new 4 ½ year project on Transport Equity. Working with Lisa is Dr Arsham Bassiri Abyaneh.

This project is funded to focus on Equity in Planning Public and Active Transport.

• Public Transport is bus, train, tram, light rail, ferry
• Active Transport is walking, wheeling, rolling, cycling, riding

Equity means fairness. Like

• People with different disabilities can access and use public transport and move around where they live without barriers.
• People with different disabilities have same choices to use transport to do things like everyone else.

Why Transport Equity?

Transport equity acknowledges that differences exist between groups.

Actions are needed to ensure the most disadvantaged have what they need to access and participate. (Sustainable Development Goal 11.2 Transport Equity)

This is important for:

• 5.5 million (21.4%) Australians who identify as people with disability, deaf people, neurodivergent people (SDAC 2022)
• 15.4 million (61%) Australians living with at least one of long-term health conditions with anxiety being the most prevalent 18.9% (ABS 2022 National Health Survey).

Transport planning can help shape Australian suburbs, cities and regions to promote fairness, inclusion, climate resilience and wellbeing for diverse people with disabilities and chronic health conditions in a rapidly changing world.

One example of the role transport planning plays within the transport network is improving and expanding public and active transport systems to ensure it’s easy to follow and use, safe, available, affordable, barrier-free and sustainable.

Although transport equity research and policy development is rapidly growing to aid this work, there are a lot of knowledge and practice gaps.

The Goal

To help advance transport equity in Australia by building understanding, capacity and confidence. We will do this by:

• Stage1 – building understanding of Disability-Informed Transport Equity in Australia (Stage 1)
• Stage 2a - co-creating measures for Disability-Informed Transport Equity
• Stage 2b - co-creating practice framework and education resources to apply equity in planning future transport.

This is the start of the project.

To achieve these goals, we need to work together with diverse people with disabilities and transport planners.

To get involved to help build this knowledge please:

Click here if you are a Transport Planners

Coming Soon - Person with Disabilities

The project is funded by Australia Research Council Future Fellowship - FT240100262

This research study has been approved by the Griffith Human Research Ethics Committee (approval number 2025/514).