Exploring the expectations of transport professionals concerning the future automobility system: Visions, challenges, and transitions

A mixture of potentially significant changes in technology, commercial structures, and social practices is currently entering the automobility system. These changes have the potential to combine together and lead to a substantial shift in the manner in which society fuels, owns, and makes use of its cars. This paper reports a research project that made use of focus groups to examine the narratives of British transport professionals concerning forthcoming developments in the automobility system. Specific attention was given to what the expectations for future change in automobility are, if these changes will likely lead to a transition toward a more sustainable system and the manner in which a transition of this nature could be facilitated. The oral testimony offered during the focus groups has been assessed qualitatively using thematic analysis. The results suggest that there is a commonly held view that the automobility system is entering a stage of flux, which may lead to considerable changes in system configuration. However, the attainment of a sustainable transition for the system will likely be inhibited by a series of institutional, societal, and physical barriers, which may restrict system developments

Competition in Multi-Airport Regions: Measuring airport catchments through spatial interaction models

The paper makes use of a novel dataset of the surface access flows of passengers departing from the four main airports surrounding London to construct a spatial interaction model for the region. This model explains the spatial variability in the flows through four separate components being [1] spatial separation between the origin of the flow and the destination airport, [2] the demand characteristics at the origin, [3] the attractiveness of the service offered by the airport, and [4] the presence of intervening opportunities. A spatial econometric approach is taken in the modelling to account for the presence of spatial dependence in the data. The output of the model reveals a strong distance decay effect, where the level of interaction between origins and airports displays a negative spatial gradient. Each of the four airports dominate passenger flows in their immediate vicinity, with the market in the region being hotly contested in central London. All four components of the model are useful in explaining spatial variation in passenger flows, demonstrating the efficacy of this approach in considering how airports source their demand in a Multi-Airport Region. The performance of the model is superior when considering passenger surface access flows for scheduled flights, while the explanatory power is reduced for flows associated with chartered flights. Having verified the applicability of the model, it is possible for policy makers to utilise the approach to consider such issues of expanding, limiting or reducing capacity at existing airports in the region, establishing new airport facilities, and the effect of population growth on the geographic form of airport demand.</p

Public acceptability towards Low Emission Zones: The role of attitudes, norms, emotions, and trust

In recent years, the topic of air quality has grown in prominence due to an improved understanding of the detrimental impacts of local air pollutants on human health and wellbeing. The introduction of Urban Vehicle Access Regulations such as Low Emission Zones represents one policy that is being actively considered in city governance to address this problem, whereby the access of highly polluting vehicles is restricted to reduce traffic-related emissions. For such a policy to be implemented, an understanding of public support can prove useful by identifying the issues that underpin citizen reaction.This paper presents an assessment of public acceptability to Low Emission Zones through the application of a conceptual framework. This framework integrates an array of socio-psychological constructs sourced from theoretical models of behaviour and empirical findings on acceptability to Transport Demand Management measures. The framework is applied through a Structural Equation Model with the results of the analysis indicating that attitudes, policy specific beliefs, trust in government, and problem awareness all represent significant constructs in terms of their direct and in-direct effects on acceptability. This information can contribute to the discussion within local governments by providing guidance in their policy development on what contentious issues need to be addressed in public engagement strategies.</div

Air travel and urbanity: The role of migration, social networks, airport accessibility, and ‘rebound’

Residents of urban areas, and particularly urban cores, have higher levels of long-distance travel activity and related emissions, mostly on account of greater frequency of air travel. This relationship typically remains after controlling for basic socio-economic correlates of long-distance travel. There is an ongoing debate in the literature about what causes this association, and whether it calls into question urban densification strategies. Understanding this is important from a climate policy perspective. In this article, we investigate the role of three factors: i) access to airports; ii) the concentration of people with migration background and/or geographically dispersed social networks in urban areas; and iii) greater air travel by urban residents without cars (‘rebound effect’). We use representative survey data for the UK including information on respondents’ air travel frequency for private purposes and derive estimates of greenhouse gas emissions. The dataset also includes detailed information on migration generation, residential location of close family and friends, car ownership and use, as well as low-level geographical identifiers. The findings of regression analysis show that Greater London residents stand out in terms of emissions from air travel. Airport accessibility, migration background, and dispersion of social networks each explain part of this association, whereas we find no evidence of a rebound effect. However, proximity to town centres remains associated with higher emissions after accounting for these issues, indicating that this association is due to other factors than those considered here. We conclude by discussing implications for urban and climate policy, as well as future research

Eating, heating or taking the bus? Lived experiences at the intersection of energy and transport poverty

Experiences of poverty can manifest in multiple aspects of everyday life, often in interlinking ways. One example is ‘double energy vulnerability’, where a household faces both energy poverty and transport poverty simultaneously. This can result in trade-offs, where prioritising one essential need (e.g., transport) makes accessing another impossible (e.g., heating). Such decisions are not easily made, and they can have distinct spatio-temporal characteristics. They can vary between space and time and across different household members, and result in stark inter- as well as intra-household differences. People with socio-demographic and contextual vulnerabilities are particularly at risk of experiencing double energy vulnerability. Based on 59 household interviews across the four nations of the United Kingdom, we provide novel, multi-nation empirical evidence on the lived experiences of double energy vulnerability, drawing on our themes; ‘being locked into infrastructure’, ‘facing high costs and low incomes’, ‘choosing between energy and transport’, and ‘missing out’. A cross-national lived-experiences approach sheds light on double energy vulnerability as a relational, contingent and ongoing phenomena, attending to everyday experiences and capacities. We provide suggestions for further research, such as further study of double energy vulnerability amongst refugees and migrants. We also highlight that the study of lived experiences can aid the recognition of how different forms of poverty intersect and how they need to be taken into account in the design of Net Zero policies. </p

Eating, heating or taking the bus? Lived experiences at the intersection of energy and transport poverty

Experiences of poverty can manifest in multiple aspects of everyday life, often in interlinking ways. One example is ‘double energy vulnerability’, where a household faces both energy poverty and transport poverty simultaneously. This can result in trade-offs, where prioritising one essential need (e.g., transport) makes accessing another impossible (e.g., heating). Such decisions are not easily made, and they can have distinct spatio-temporal characteristics. They can vary between space and time and across different household members, and result in stark inter- as well as intra-household differences. People with socio-demographic and contextual vulnerabilities are particularly at risk of experiencing double energy vulnerability. Based on 59 household interviews across the four nations of the United Kingdom, we provide novel, multi-nation empirical evidence on the lived experiences of double energy vulnerability, drawing on our themes; ‘being locked into infrastructure’, ‘facing high costs and low incomes’, ‘choosing between energy and transport’, and ‘missing out’. A cross-national lived-experiences approach sheds light on double energy vulnerability as a relational, contingent and ongoing phenomena, attending to everyday experiences and capacities. We provide suggestions for further research, such as further study of double energy vulnerability amongst refugees and migrants. We also highlight that the study of lived experiences can aid the recognition of how different forms of poverty intersect and how they need to be taken into account in the design of Net Zero policies. </p