Access to affordable, reliable, good quality transport is necessary for accessing socio-economic opportunities and resources. Transportation inequities have serious implications for public health, and thus transport policy becomes an important social determinant of health. This research studies how needs of vulnerable populations are constructed and addressed in transportation policies in India at the national and sub-national (Delhi) level. Thirty-four National and Delhi level policies were analysed using an intersectional lens to understand how policies identify and address mobility inequities faced by vulnerable groups.

Intersectionality states that an understanding of individual experiences based on a single aspect of identity (such as class, gender, ability, age, etc.) is unrepresentative of individual needs. Adopting an intersectional lens for analysing policies allows for a deeper understanding of the impact of multi-level interacting social locations and structures of domination that shape human experience. Thus, helping in creating more effective policies to make transportation accessible to vulnerable groups.

The research found that policies focussed on a unitary understanding of population groups and therefore did not capture the complexities of transportation inequities experienced by vulnerable groups. While equity was a stated concern, policies fell short of addressing structural factors and interlocking systems of power and oppression which give rise to inequities. Policy documents were also found to stigmatise groups based on disability and gender. The policy making process was found to be exclusionary and ‘expert’ driven. Voices of vulnerable groups and civil society were left out of the policy making process. In terms of evidence, policies did not detail what evidence was relied upon. All the above has negative implications for the operationalisation of equity and social justice.

In order to advance a social justice agenda, an intersectional evidence-based understanding of transportation inequities is required to inform policies. The process of policy making needs to be re-imagined and made more inclusive and democratic, and less bureaucratic and expert driven.