Transport Poverty in Thailand: Concept, Measurement and Data Availability

Abstract

Transport poverty is not only a term used to accentuate the fact that some groups of population in the society are unable to commute as they need, but the concept is being studied by researchers to accurately locate and identify the disadvantaged, who would need to be considered in transport policy and decision making. Due to its complexity, conceptualization and measurement of transport poverty have not always been clear and comprehensive. As measurement of transport poverty usually requires a specific set of data, developing countries are generally regarded as potentially having insufficient data. Thailand’s social and economic context imply that the issue has been present in the country while availability of data required for its measurement is unconfirmed. This paper reviews and discusses how the concept has been defined and measured by some previous research as well as availability of Thailand’s data applicable for various types of measurement. The results show that existing data would permit certain types and degrees of measurement; nonetheless, a more precise and accurate measurement of the issue would require more complete data sets.