What Is Enough? Rethinking Sufficiency in Transport through Relational Egalitarianism

This paper critically re-examines the role of accessibility sufficiency in transport justice, arguing that traditional sufficientarian approaches rooted in basic needs, social exclusion, and basic flourishing fall short. While these frameworks aim to prevent participation poverty by guaranteeing “enough” accessibility, they overlook how inequalities above the poverty line can entrench social hierarchies. Drawing on Relational Egalitarianism, the paper develops an account of sufficiency grounded in the Principle of Social Equality, according to which everyone is entitled to accessibility sufficient to participate as equals in society, free from structural disadvantage and second-class status. At the same time, when socio-economic privilege can be systematically leveraged into durable accessibility advantage, relational equality requires a Limitarian Principle that constrains this conversion. Transport justice thus requires a relational sufficiency threshold, together with constraints on the disproportionate capture of accessibility by privileged groups.