Active travel facilitators and barriers within different populations

Research question

• What are the health and health inequality impacts of interventions that affect active travel behaviours (at a population level)?

Active travel includes all modes of travel that involve some degree of physical activity, such as walking, cycling and other types of wheeling. Public travel refers to journeys made using public transportation systems and will often include an active travel component. Active travel is one of the simplest and most acceptable forms of physical activity and it is easily incorporated into everyday life, with active travel accounting for 20% of all physical activity minutes undertaken by adults in the UK. Whilst active travel journeys increased due to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, levels of walking and cycling are now trending back towards 2019 levels. Active Travel is a more environmentally sustainable way to travel due to reduced emissions and pollutants. Other co-benefits to active travel include improved wellbeing, social belonging and human capital, the prevention of injuries from motorised vehicles, as well as economic benefits related to land value, job development, reduced healthcare costs, and improved economic performance of cities.

There has been an increased focus on active travel with all four UK nations investing in active travel initiatives, examples include: the ‘Walking School Bus’; ‘Cycle to Work’; ‘Bikeability’ training; building cycle lanes; creating more paths in rural areas; developing safer routes for children to walk to school; and improved safety at junctions for people walking and cycling.

There are several challenges and barriers to increasing levels of active travel, as well as reducing inequalities in access and uptake of active travel initiatives. Some journeys are not amenable to active travel, but for other journeys, these barriers include the physical infrastructure, personal factors and the social environment. These barriers may include the active travel infrastructure being unsafe or of poor quality and/or limited availability and accessibility. This may be due to pavement clutter or damage, as well as fragmented walkways and cycle lanes. The distance or lack of additional transport links are also commonly cited barriers to active travel, which can pose issues for everyday journeys. Finally, personal and social barriers include perceived safety, weather/seasonality, time, cost, social norms, awareness, and skills.

Although there are commonalities in terms of barriers for population groups, for some groups within the population, the barriers may vary. For instance, for women, distance, time, and personal and road safety are more commonly cited barriers than for men. Moreover, the nature of trips women undertake is often distinct from men. Understanding what facilitates or prevents people from choosing active travel is crucial for understanding how to drive behaviour change, how to inform decisions for active travel infrastructure, promotional campaigns and policy, as well as for advocacy. There are already several studies which have examined the perceived barriers and facilitators to active travel, however, less is known about what works to address these barriers for different population groups.

The Public Health Research (PHR) Programme wishes to commission research on the health impacts of interventions that encourage active travel and reduces inequality in active travel. We are predominantly interested in the evaluation of interventions operating at a population level rather than at an individual level, and their impact on health inequalities and the wider determinants of health. The PHR Programme recognises that interventions are likely to impact different (sub)populations in different ways. Applicants should explain and justify their choice of (sub)population. Of particular importance is an understanding of inequalities in the impact of interventions on people from ethnic minority backgrounds and disabled people in the UK.

The PHR Programme recognises that this call is broad. The examples given below are not exhaustive, nor are they mutually exclusive. The researcher is encouraged to clearly define and justify their chosen (sub)population and intervention. Examples include evaluations of:

• interventions aiming to address behaviour change, including personal and social barriers and facilitators of active travel
• interventions of the physical environment to facilitate active travel, including infrastructure changes and active travel initiatives that do - or do not utilise community collaboration
• different modes of travel, particular multimodal travel and interventions aimed at increasing walking
• interventions to address the facilitators and barriers to active travel by different population groups (this could include consideration of age, gender, socio-economic group, ethnic minority groups, and disability)
• interventions to reduce inequalities in active travel
• interventions in different settings of active travel (urban, suburban, rural) and/or scaling up of local interventions

A range of study designs and outcome measures can be used, and the programme would welcome inter-disciplinary working. Researchers will need to clearly justify the most suitable methodological approach. Primary outcomes must be health related. Researchers are encouraged to consider other outcome measures that may be influential on policy makers as secondary outcome measures. All key outcome measures should be justified, and researchers need to specify how the outcomes will be measured in the medium and long term. It is recognised that the health outcome of interest may only be achieved later, and researchers will need to specify and justify any proxy health measures used.

Understanding the value of public health interventions - whether the outcomes justify their use of resources - is integral to the PHR Programme, where resources relating to different economic sectors and budgets are potentially relevant. The main outcomes for economic evaluation are expected to include health (including health-related quality of life) and the impact on health inequalities as a minimum, with consideration of broader outcomes welcomed. Different approaches to economic evaluation are encouraged as long as they assess the value and distributive impact of interventions. Applications that do not include an economic component should provide appropriate justification.

Researchers are strongly encouraged to ensure that existing and new service users are meaningfully involved in the design and planning of the intervention and/or as potential, suitably rewarded, members of the research team. Researchers should demonstrate the relevance of their proposed research to decision-makers and people with lived experiences from different communities and they might do this through involving them as costed/rewarded members of the research team. Researchers are encouraged to explain how they will share their findings with policy makers, public health officers, special interest groups, charities, community audiences and other relevant stakeholders. Researchers are expected to be aware of other studies in this area, development in practice and ensure their proposed research is complementary.

The programme recognises that active travel interventions could overlap with climate change and physical activity interventions. Applications in these areas are welcomed, however, we would encourage applications to explore separate PHR Programme funding opportunities or apply via the PHR researcher-led funding stream. 

For further information on submitting an application to the PHR Programme, please refer to the Stage 1 guidance notes and PHR supporting information. These can be found by clicking on the relevant commissioned call on the main funding opportunities page. This also includes closing dates and details about how to apply.

Supporting Information

• tips for success in applying

All primary research projects are expected to establish a programme appointed Study/Trial Steering Committee and it is important that you read the Research Governance Guidelines before completing your application. Costs incurred by this committee should be included in the budget as appropriate.