OUR TOP CURRENT DISCUSSIONS
We’re covering loads of important things. Here are some of the most important
Latest issues under discussion amongst transport professionals
1) An industrial view of a public policy puzzle | Peter Stonham | 5 September 2024
2) Why we need to look at Travel Behaviour differently now | David Metz | 5 September 2024
3) Is this the chance to finally deliver new housing served by sustainable transport? | Colin Black | 5 September 2024
4) Peak Complexity – Why Things Stop Working, and how that Should Worry the Transport Sector | Steve Melia | 14 August 2024
5) The Machine Stops | Peter Stonham | 1 August 2024
6) The big challenges for transport from Labour’s devolution plan | Ralph Smyth | 1 August 2024
7) How will the Government deliver on infrastructure now? Does Reeves’ speech point way to new private finance plans? | Peter Stonham | 1 August 2024
8) Labour starts its transport journey... But who is deciding the path? | Peter Stonham | 17 July 2024
9) What should the new Government do about Roads and Traffic? A Strategy for Truth and Reconciliation | Phil Goodwin | 17 July 2024
10) Transport matters a lot - but not in elections. And that, on the whole, is a good thing | John Dales | 17 July 2024
1) The big challenges for transport from Labour’s devolution plan | Ralph Smyth | 1 August 2024
2) What is the place for DRT in the wider public transport system? | Peter White | 9 April 2024
3) The deep flaws in how we model freight | Phil Goodwin | 8 May 2024
4) What should the new Government do about Roads and Traffic? A Strategy for Truth and Reconciliation | Phil Goodwin | 17 July 2024
5) Transport investment appraisal - What are we really trying to measure? | David Metz | 21 May 2024
6) From black and white to shades of grey – the flawed world of expert knowledge dissemination in transport | Phil Goodwin | 10 May 2023
7) When the facts change, we should change our thinking – and that’s the case with planning our future transport now | David Metz | 24 January 2023
8) Decision time for England’s biggest road project. What are the implications? (Part One) | Phil Goodwin | 6 February 2024
9) 50th Anniversary of the Transport Studies Unit, Oxford University: A Memoir | Phil Goodwin | 31 July 2023
10) Where is MaaS going? Its complicated… | Beate Kubitz and James Gleave | 8 May 2024
Is this the chance to finally deliver new housing served by sustainable transport?
The new government is determined to see a major expansion in housing provision, linked, it says, to transport provision developed on the basis of the vision-led approach rather than ‘predict and provide’ highways-based thinking. Colin Black likes the ideas expressed in the revised National Planning Policy Statement, but is concerned that aspirations are not enough on their own to overcome established models of development. He looks at what the guidance has to say to make sure there can be no back sliding, and what work has already been done that can help specify the required content.
Housing Development and Highways - will we ever break the link?
Why does new housebuilding still so often mean major new highway investment asks Colin Black? Predict and Provide may be disavowed now, but the old paradigms of Transport Impact Assessment live on in both the types of housing provision proposed, and the accessibility arrangements supposedly essential to go with it. Can local planning and transport authorities themselves specify approaches that break the link - or is something much more definitive needed at national policy level he wonders. And might a new Government potentially have the motivation needed to deliver it?
Why we need to look at Travel Behaviour differently now
The new government is promising to take a different course on transport, but it is not just policy change on railways and buses, and even roads, that’s needed, believes David Metz. A core component of thinking must be to reassess what kind of travel behaviour we are seeking to cater for now, and where that fits in wider national objectives, especially decarbonisation. In view of the importance of the subject, he’s written a new book about it, which he reflects upon here.
An industrial view of a public policy puzzle
THE LONG-AWAITED report from the group led by Juergen Maier commissioned by Transport Secretary Louise Haigh when in opposition, has come as something of a disappointment to anyone hoping to see the full shape of the new Government’s transport strategy emerging, or even a comprehensive vision for the two subject areas it has specifically addressed - rail and urban transport.
Peak Complexity – Why Things Stop Working, and how that Should Worry the Transport Sector
The rise of complex systems and a dependency on new information technologies that seem beyond human supervision or intervention when things go wrong is a worrying recent development across society , but particularly in the world of transport, believes Steve Melia. He is concerned that such systems and processes are not only bringing new problems, but doing little to address the fundamental challenges that really need attention- like tackling climate change. He wonders if simplification and reduction in the systems we use is being overlooked in seeking better ways forward.
The big challenges for transport from Labour’s devolution plan
The new Labour Government promises a significant further step in the devolution of responsibilities from Westminster to Mayors and Local Transport Authorities. But whilst the intentions are good, the devil will be in the detail says Ralph Smyth. He examines the extensive range of overlapping issues to be addressed with new powers, arguing clarity about responsibilities and resourcing is urgently needed. It is going to be a challenging process to get an effective and durable new settlement in place, he believes.
The Machine Stops
THERE ARE certain industries that, due to their time-critical nature, service delivery structure, and user characteristics and expectations, are particularly susceptible to any system downtime or unpredictable interruptions to service. Transport and logistics have become a prime example in our modern digital world, meaning everything from passenger transport services to traffic control and freight distribution are in the front line for any IT system failure.
How will the Government deliver on infrastructure now? Does Reeves’ speech point way to new private finance plans?
The Chancellor Rachel Reeves has told Parliament that the new Labour Government has inherited a financial black hole, and has instructed the Transport Secretary that she must go through her Department’s capital spending plans in detail to make savings and ensure value for money. Peter Stonham looks at the challenge that poses.
What should the new Government do about Roads and Traffic? A Strategy for Truth and Reconciliation
The new Labour administration is faced with making a challenging set of decisions about controversial highway schemes inherited from the previous Government, and setting out a wider framework of future roads and traffic policy, which it didn’t do before the Election. Phil Goodwin argues that a long hard look at the legacy position and establishment of clear set of objectives is needed to anchor decisions going forward. He suggests the establishment of thoughtful and inclusive independent review would really help that process
Transport matters a lot - but not in elections. And that, on the whole, is a good thing
This publication, and its readers, are both really concerned about transports matters. But, as John Dales argues here, that’s not generally the position of most ordinary citizens, with transport not at all a defining issue when it comes to national elections. So why, he wonders, did the Conservatives go overboard in trying to make the needs of drivers a key plank of their pitch? He’s pretty confident it was a pointless exercise, and is quite pleased about that too.
Labour starts its transport journey…But who is deciding the path?
IN JUST A WEEK OR SO since the General Election, the new Labour Government has been very active in asserting the arrival of a new era in British politics. Though not the highest of profile areas, transport has had its fair share of attention, particularly in the choice of the full ministerial team of five, led by Louise Haigh, taking forward her former role as Shadow Transport Secretary, but with two particularly interesting ministers in support — Lord Peter Hendy, spearheading Labour’s rail agenda, and Lilian Greenwood given the interesting title of Future of Roads Minister — alongside Simon Lightwood leading on Local Transport, and Mike Kane responsible for Aviation and Maritime.
Triple Access Planning is a useful concept – but have the practicalities been fully thought through?
Recognition that transport provision is just one part of achieving spatial connectivity and user accessibility is a welcome step says David Metz. But he feels that the formalised concept of Triple Access Planning is an idealised approach to embracing this truism, and the realities of specific geographic transport challenges, available practical options, and public and political behavioural expectations mean the theory will be hard to deploy successfully.
Happy 10th birthday to the ‘Mini Holland’ poster child, and may there be many more happy returns
It’s been 10 years since Waltham Forest secured £27m funding from the London Mayor to create a ‘Mini Holland’. The far-reaching success of the programme illustrates the importance of genuine leadership, holding your nerve in the face of adversity, and understanding what the majority thinks, not just what the minority shout, says John Dales
Transport investment appraisal - What are we really trying to measure?
Measurement of inputs and outputs from transport investment has been refined over the 50 years or so since the concept of cost-benefit analysis was first applied in the sector. But David Metz believes that the underpinning conceptual thinking has not been re-examined sufficiently to reflect new objectives, priorities and public spending choices, with debate restricted to detail within a narrow group of professionals. The fresh thinking of the Welsh Government to embrace wider issues is welcome, but still leaves unresolved issues, he argues.
The deep flaws in how we model freight
The treatment of freight movements is an area of serious weakness in transport planning, writes Professor Phil Goodwin. The assumptions being made are not underpinned by adequate understanding, suffer from a lack of suitable data analysis, and embed misrepresentation of commercial and economic realities. All this seems highly likely to be leading to inappropriate decision-making. An in-depth review is needed, he argues.
Where is MaaS going? Its complicated…
Mobility as a Service has been an idea that’s time has supposedly come for a decade or more. However it’s not hit the mainstream, and one of the companies that has led the way in developing the concept has just gone bust. Is it being stopped from taking off? Will it ever deliver the benefits for easy- to- use multi modal travel that its advocates believe are possible? The authors of a new book on MaaS, Beate Kubitz and James Gleave, outline the current state of play, and the prospects.
Sidewalk stories from the Big Apple. What makes a city special - and worth fighting for
Looking at other countries, cities and cultures can teach us a lot, and give us a new lens through which to examine how we live and work ourselves, says John Dales. Just back from the USA he reflects on some of the forces that shaped New York, and the dangers of chasing future visions that miss the fundamentals of what really matters.
What is the place for DRT in the wider public transport system?
Each transport mode has operational and economic attributes that define its potential to play a role within the overall mix of options. As technologies and business concepts evolve, the transport options change too. But reality and cost-effectiveness, rather than promotional claims, should define the most appropriate choices in public policy and expenditure on them, argues Professor Peter White. He is concerned in particular about an absence of consistent examination and evaluation about what Demand Responsive Transport can deliver at an acceptable cost.
Triple Access Planning – a diffusing innovation that reflects our new look world
Transport planning must evolve to match the new context of a changing world in which mobility is just one element of how we connect with the things we need and want to have, and to do, says Professor Glenn Lyons. Here he explains the origins and development of the Triple Access Planning idea, and introduces a new Handbook about it with guidance for practitioners about implementing the concept in the context of their professional activities.
Decision time for England’s biggest road project. What are the implications?
The recently completed examination of the revised National Highways proposals for a new downstream crossing of the Thames between Kent and Essex exposed some fundamental issues about how the rationale behind its justification was both presented and tested, believes Phil Goodwin. These are matters of more general significance, he feels, and here he provides an analysis of the case presented, and the wider questions it highlights about major road scheme appraisal and the robustness of the review process, in the first of a two parts TAPAS contribution on the Lower Thames Crossing, and the issues it raises
Round Table Discussions
Second successful ‘Transport Thinking Forum’ Round Table event in association with TAPAS tackles ‘changing travel behaviour’
We are very pleased to record our holding of the second successful ‘Transport Thinking Forum’ Round Table event in association with TAPAS, which addressed the theme of achieving behaviour change in transport. You can read several articles on this topic on TAPAS.
First successful ‘Transport Thinking Forum’ Round Table event in association with TAPAS
We are very pleased to record our holding of the first successful ‘Transport Thinking Forum’ Round Table event in association with TAPAS, which addressed the theme of achieving a sustainable future for UK transport.
Featured TAPAS Collection
Road Plan Assessment and Appraisal
With both economic and environmental issues to the fore, TAPAS contributors, Phil Goodwin, Greg Marsden, Derek Halden, David Metz and others explored the basis on which major road investment schemes can be justified or not.
See the articles and join the discussion.
The route to Net Zero: DfT assumptions look well off course
The Welsh Government Roads Review
The 2022 DfT National Road Traffic Projections: unanswered questions and required conversations
More Work is Needed on the Interactions between Appraisal and Investment - and explaining where the costs and benefits go
When the facts change, we should change our thinking – and that’s the case with planning our future transport now
Appraisal
When the facts change, we should change our thinking – and that’s the case with planning our future transport now
Lower Thames Crossing – Is this Tunnel a Bridge too Far?
It’s time to re-appraise appraisal, and Wales shows the way
Road investment framework is based on objectives and values from the past
Decarbonisation/Net Zero
No Safe Space for Decarbonisation: why we all need to know the tough changes transport must make
The Boiling Point. What’s missing if it isn’t the experience?
Growing, Growing - Gone? Time to re-think our future
Let’s let citizens take control - local empowerment on traffic can be the key to rapid modal switch
Managing Roadspace
Designing streets is one thing, managing them is another: we need to get much better at it ASAP
Street Space – a public asset from which we urgently need to get much greater value, for all
How best to use Road Space:
a problem we can’t ignore, but it’s a multi-dimensional and complex one
Transport and Society
Confronting Transport-Related Social Exclusion: refining the Methodology and addressing the Challenges
Why travel? Rethinking our need for movement in an age of crises
A turning point for the UK’s demographics – and transport planning too?
Data and Travel Behaviour
Who drives, and how well? A look at the numbers and their variation by gender and age
Working from home - a changing pattern
How sandwich sales have added new insights about current transport and travel trends
Professional Practice
Plenty of Professors now – but is our radar properly tuned to what we really need to know and understand?
Q is for Queen. But also for Queueing – an overlooked area of transport expertise
The transport planner as an agent of democracy: a difficult task but one worth doing well
