The provision of adequate access to transport is an important aspect of the prevention of social exclusion for low income groups who are less likely than other groups to have access to a private car. This research therefore explores the relationships between travel by bus and social exclusion. It also exarTilnes the extent to which the potential buses might have to improve access to transport for excluded and vulnerable groups of people without incurring the negative environmental costs of increasing car use can be realised within the context of current English transport policy.