Data from the Family Resource Survey 2003/04 shows that 38% of households in Derry City Council area do not have access to a car or van. Access to a car is related to household income. 70% of working age adults in the bottom income quintile live in a household where there is a car compared to 98% in the top income quintile.
Across the North, over half of lone parent families and two-thirds of single pensioners lack a car. Just over 20% of households in rural areas do not have car, particularly relevant when in much of rural Northern Ireland many people do not live within easy access of public transport.*
* These figures are taken from Kenway et al, (2006), Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion in Northern Ireland, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, York.
The huge investment in the A5WTC project would appear to be promoting social exclusion by favouring road transport over socially inclusive rail transport.