18. How can transport networks use technology to better support remote, rural and island communities?
Background
DfT’s ARI identifies 40 broad research questions that reflect areas of strategic importance to the department, where further insight and collaboration could enhance our evidence base, challenge assumptions and strengthen future decision-making. The ARI is organised around four complementary themes, and this question sits within the Improving Journeys for People theme.
Transport plays a central role in people’s everyday lives, shaping how easily, affordably and reliably they can access work, education, public services and social opportunities. Improving journeys for people means putting users at the heart of the transport system, ensuring that journeys are safe, dependable, accessible, affordable and integrated across modes. This reflects the vision set out in Better Connected, which emphasises transport that supports everyday journeys across the country.
For the purposes of these ARIs, improving journeys for people focuses on end to end travel experiences rather than individual services in isolation. Evidence suggests what matters most to users of the transport system is how journeys function as a whole, including the availability and quality of information, perceptions of reliability and safety, affordability and simplicity, and confidence to travel.
People’s journeys are shaped by factors beyond transport infrastructure alone, including housing, land use, employment, digital connectivity and public services. Understanding how these factors interact with transport provision is essential to improving real world journeys, particularly for groups who face greater barriers to travel or are more sensitive to cost, reliability and complexity.
This theme recognises that improving journeys for people requires both day to day operational improvements and longer term system change. The ARIs therefore seek research that deepens understanding of how transport systems shape people’s experiences and behaviour, and that supports more integrated, people centred decision making across different contexts.
Next steps
If you have research relevant to this topic, are planning work in this area, or would like to discuss potential collaboration, please get in touch. For our monitoring and evaluation purposes, we are also keen to hear if the ARI has informed or influenced your research.
To get in touch and report the use, please fill in the form https://submit.forms.service.gov.uk/form/264718/dft-areas-of-research-interest-ari/
Link to DfT ARI: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dft-areas-of-research-interest/areas-of-research-interest-2026
Topics
Research fields
- built environment and design
- commerce, management, tourism and services
- transportation, logistics and supply chains
- earth sciences
- physical geography and environmental geoscience
- engineering
- environmental sciences
- human society
- human geography
- information and computing sciences
- applied computing
- human-centred computing
- information systems
Related UKRI funded projects
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Community Travel Platform
Shared transit, such as public transport, is key to getting people around and maintaining our economy. It is vital in reducing our impact on the environment. UK cities have well-developed public transport infrastructure,...
Funded by: Innovate UK
Lead research organisation: PLEXAL (CITY) LIMITED
Why might this be relevant?
The project focuses on evaluating a platform solution to incentivize sustainable and community-focused mobility, which directly addresses the question of using technology to better support remote, rural, and island communities.
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Cairngorm Connected
"People living and working in rural areas across the UK face reduced access to education, employment, healthcare and social activities due to public transport services that do not meet their needs. People without ac...
Funded by: Innovate UK
Lead research organisation: JLM CONSULTING LIMITED
Why might this be relevant?
The project aims to understand the needs and challenges of rural communities and develop better transport services, aligning with the question's focus on supporting remote, rural, and island communities.
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TRANSPORT AND TECHNOLOGY
Despite cases in which travel is undertaken purely for its own sake, travel is usually considered to be derived from a need or desire to participate in a wide range of activities - accessing people, goods, services and o...
Funded by: ESRC
Lead research organisation: Lancaster University
Why might this be relevant?
The project explores the impact of non-transport technologies on travel demand, which is partially relevant to the question of using technology to support remote, rural, and island communities.