Travel Behaviour Response to Major Transport System Disruptions: Implications for Smarter Resilience Planning

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Understanding the older traveller: stop, look and listen!

Getting around would be difficult without roads, rail and pedestrian walkways. Despite what we take for granted, the older traveller is often left feeling frustrated by the current transport infrastructure. Based on their research, Dr Greg Marsden et al explore in this article why this is the case, they look at the barriers that prevent older people getting out and about and the considerations when planning transport for the older traveller

COVID-19 will have a profound long-term impact on transport policy and travel patterns, but rapid change is less likely

Greg Marsden and Iain Docherty find that the pandemic has accelerated some transport policy commitments that were already planned, but at a time of huge stress on the government, the potential to deliver radical policy adaptation was limited. However, COVID-19 is still recognised as being a potentially path-changing disruption to existing trajectories in terms of the adaptations to business practices, industry structures, ways of working and the public finances

Governance of UK Transport Infrastructures

First paragraph: Transport plays a vital role in every day life. The efficient movement of people and goods is an essential part of a productive economy as well as being important for social cohesion, health and well-being. Investment or policy intervention in the transport system is, therefore, in support of these other wider objectives or to tackle externalities such as climate change or congestion. The institutional structures underpinning transport have, however, developed around modes and networks and around the industries of transport. The arrangements vary significantly between modes and, increasingly, across areas. There is a multitude of governance networks rather than a single overarching ‘governance of the transport system’. This makes it difficult to achieve integrated outcomes

Understanding the role of performance targets in transport policy

The measurement of performance in the public sector has become increasingly important in recent years and it is now commonplace for transport organisations, and local and national governments, to publish performance goals for service supply and quality. Such commitments, when time referenced, are known as targets. This paper explain how changes in management style, consumer rights legislation, contractual obligations and other factors have combined to make management-by targets increasingly common in the public sector. The advantages and disadvantages of management-by-targets are illustrated through discussion of the processes and experience of setting transport targets in UK national transport policy. We conclude that while some of the targets have had a significant impact on policy makers, managers and their agents, the effects have not always been as intended

The role of funding in the ‘performative decarbonisation’ of transport in England

oai:westminsterresearch.westminster.ac.uk:w7w7vThe scale of the decarbonisation challenge and the short timeframes over which action is required demand urgent action. This paper is set within the surface transport sector, now the largest sector of emissions with the slowest pace of change in many advanced liberal economies. It focuses on the strategies and actions of local government which is recognised to be a central player in catalysing change. Our evidence is derived from the actions of two UK local areas which claim to be at the forefront of the decarbonisation challenge. The paper focuses on the role of funding and financial mechanisms in addressing the climate crisis. In the face of an established pattern of austerity and hollowing out of local government we explore how deep transformation is being envisaged. We find a recursive set of issues which derive from a dependence on funding from outwith. This dependence means that despite comprehensive overarching strategies and goals the funding available is the core of the strategy. This means that the nature of the funds, such as the requirement for experimentation, innovation or private sector leverage, defines direction. In turn, and to maintain success in attracting funds, there is an emphasis on presenting ‘premium spaces of ambition’ with little evidence of attention to broader systemic change. This duality is openly recognised. This paper advances a wider point that greater emphasis should be placed on the ‘financialisation’ of climate policy and the reality rather than the rhetoric of change

Transport visions network - Report 2 - Transportation requirements

This is the second in a series of reports to be produced by the Transport Visions Network. The Network is a novel venture to project the views of young professionals into the debate concerning the future of transport and its role in society. It is comprised of individuals who are aged 35 or under from universities, consultancies and public authorities both in the UK and overseas.This report might be deemed, in effect, to be a statement of Transport Visions Network policy - an advisory framework within which to subsequently pursue specific visions for the future of transport. The report sets out twelve Transportation Requirements that have emerged from extensive discussion and debate

Forth Road Bridge Closure Survey: Analysis of Commuter Behaviour: Final Findings Report May 2016

First paragraph: This document presents the findings of surveys conducted on both commuter & non-commuting travel behaviour during the Forth Road Bridge closure. The survey captured 923 commuters (842 full time and 81 part time workers) and 441 non-commuters giving a total sample of 1,364 respondents. We anticipate that the survey will most likely have been filled out by those experiencing significant adverse impacts and, as such, the findings should be interpreted as an upper bound of impacts amongst those affected

Transport visions network - Report 4 - Vehicles and infrastructure

This is the fourth in a series of reports to be produced by the Transport Visions Network. The Network is a novel venture to project the views of young professionals into the debate concerning the future of transport and its role in society. It is comprised of individuals who are aged 35 or under from universities, consultancies and public authorities both in the UK and overseas.This report examines how vehicles and infrastructure might be used to develop the UK’s surface transport networks of the future. In doing so, it has attempted to highlight the balance between maintaining existing systems and making the best use of technological advances to develop new vehicles and new systems. Technological advances offer the opportunity to increase the capacity that any system of infrastructure can provide. Preferably technology should be harnessed to develop systems that increase the number of people per hour that we move rather than the number of vehicles per hour. Measures such as dedicated lanes and intelligent charging can facilitate this. Similarly, greater support for car sharing and innovative forms of shared vehicle ownership could help achieve such aims. The improvements in throughput in people per hour achieved through these measures may also deliver vastly enhanced energy efficiency per kilometre moved