Co-Producing Transport Research In Bristol

Transport research often treats inequality as a technical failure: inadequate infrastructure, poor design, or inefficiencies in service, often overlooking the lived experience of exclusion embedded in everyday mobility. For people who rely on public transport the most (e.g., disabled residents, low-income families, shift workers) delays, inaccessibility, and cost become structural barriers to economic participation. Existing policy and research frequently exclude these voices, framing users as data points rather than co-analysts of the systems they navigate. The Bristol Transport Project (BTP) confronts this omission by reframing transport not simply as infrastructure but as a site of inequality, agency, and contestation.

BTP began at a bus stop, where a missed journey sparked a wider conversation and, eventually, a city-wide research project. Funded by Research England, a flexible, interdisciplinary team of community groups, student researchers, policy leads, and transport users shaped all stages: from research design and neighbourhood mapping (identifying areas of transport poverty, exclusion, and desert conditions) to co-producing inclusive town halls. Town halls were facilitated by local volunteers, with participants supported via travel passes, accessibility measures, and flexible contribution options including surveys, interviews, and voice diaries.

No knowledge form was privileged; community insight, institutional critique, and policy expertise were brought into layered dialogue. The project culminates in a hybrid policy workshop co-led by residents and decision-makers, with outputs including a policy brief, an interactive Shorthand site, and a forthcoming academic paper. It shows how a moment of everyday exclusion became a research process, and a model for more just, inclusive policymaking.

The Bristol Transport Project Blog– Research Team