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Calculate transport poverty indices (EU)

Source: vignettes/TutorialsEU_tp.Rmd
TutorialsEU_tp.Rmd

Step by step tutorials

Before running any of the examples below, make sure you have processed the Eurostat HBS microdata with hbs_eu(). See Preparing the data for details.

hbs <- hbs_eu(year = 2015, country = "all", path = "raw_data")

For a description of the transport poverty indices calculated by medusa, see Transport poverty indices.

Example 1. How to calculate a specific transport poverty index

  1. Define the index to calculate (e.g. "VTU") in calc_tp_eu:
file <- calc_tp_eu(data = hbs,      # Output from hbs_eu()
                   index = "VTU")   # Select the index
  1. Save the output data frame to Excel:
library(openxlsx)

write.xlsx(file,
           "TP_VTU_2015.xlsx",
           sheetName = "VTU")

The result is a data frame with one row per index and one column per country. Values represent the proportion of households classified as transport poor in each member state according to the selected index.

Example 2. How to calculate all transport poverty indices

  1. Run calc_tp_eu with index = "all" (the default):
file <- calc_tp_eu(data = hbs,
                   index = "all")   # All indices (default)
  1. Save the output:
library(openxlsx)

write.xlsx(file,
           "TP_all_2015.xlsx",
           sheetName = "Transport poverty")

The returned data frame contains four rows, one per index (10%, 2M, LIHC, VTU), and one column per country.

Example 3. How to calculate a vector of indices

To calculate a subset of indices, pass a vector to the index argument:

file <- calc_tp_eu(data = hbs,
                   index = c("2M", "LIHC"))

Example 4. How to calculate indices for a subset of countries

If you processed only a subset of countries in hbs_eu(), calc_tp_eu will automatically calculate indices only for those countries:

hbs_subset <- hbs_eu(year = 2015,
                     country = c("BE", "ES"),
                     path = "raw_data")

file <- calc_tp_eu(data = hbs_subset,
                   index = "all")

Available indices

Index Description
10% Household spends more than 10% of its total expenditure on transport (private + short/medium distance public).
2M Household transport expenditure share is more than twice the national median (among transport users).
LIHC Low income (below poverty line after housing and transport costs) AND high transport expenditure (above national median).
VTU Vulnerable transport user: high transport expenditure (>2× national median), low income (<median), AND low public transport expenditure (<national median among public transport users).

Thresholds (national medians and poverty lines) are calculated separately for each member state. Long-distance transport (air: COICOP CP0733, and sea: CP0734) is excluded from all calculations.