Understanding mobility in rural towns: Development of a Mobility Index for the west of Ireland

Rural transport presents many challenges but understanding the patterns of mobility in rural areas is a first step towards addressing them. A Mobility Index (MI) combining indicators to create a single score for each place can help do this. This paper examines the development of a MI for rural centres in the west of Ireland. In general, MIs are urban-focused so this is an innovation for rural towns. The MI was divided into three key themes for which good mobility is ebential: employment and economic opportunities; access to services and social facilities; and readiness for the low carbon transition. The MI allows comparison between places, across different objectives and enables the monitoring of changes taking place over time. While this MI was developed for rural towns in the west of Ireland, the concept and many of the elements of its construction are transferrable to other regions.