A troublesome transport challenge? Working round the school run

Transport policy and practice could be challenged by the future of women’s mobility if it means an increasing reliance on the car. The paper examines the contextual relationship between the journey to school/childcare and the journey to work undertaken by eleven women who work part-time. It considers what the problems these women face in managing their time–space commitments and argues that time is the central problem. Transport can be a solution and a further problem in negotiating the competing time needs of work and family schedules. The research indicates the role ICTs, notably the mobile phone, play in mitigating individual transport problems, thus solutions to the problem of women’s time may not be sustainable.

► Time constraints impact on parent’s transport choices for commuting.
► Escorting children by foot or cycle to school can have an important social element.
► Mobile phones are frequently used to mitigate effects of transport delays.
► Time constraints do not prompt user innovation for alternative transport solutions.