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        “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

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        904783.pdf (PDF, 149Kb)
        Author
        Goodman, Anna
        Jones, Alasdair John Howard
        Roberts, Helen
        Steinbach, Rebecca
        Green, Judith
        Attention
        2299/13327
        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’ capability 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.
        Publication date
        2014
        Published in
        Mobilities
        Published version
        https://doi.org/10.1080/17450101.2013.782848
        Other links
        http://hdl.handle.net/2299/13327
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