GO TRADE survey - Preliminary findings presented to the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Markets on 13th November 2018

Early findings from research carried out in May-October 2018 by the University of Greenwich in collaboration with the National Federation of Market Traders (NMTF) as part of the GO TRADE project has shown that market traders want to improve their ability to address development opportunities offered by the visitor economy. The survey of over 3,766 respondents included market traders, their customers, local businesses near markets and visitors to town centres in northern France and England (east and south). Key findings of this study are summarised below: 1. Although the availability of car parking near the market is important to market traders, this was seen as less of an issue by market customers. 2. When asked about the market, customers prioritised the ease for visitors/customers to move around the market from stall to stall, the market’s opening hours, the overall service quality offered by the market or safety and security at the market as key to its success and attractiveness. 3. Market traders and visitors to markets in England and France largely agreed that markets are generally not making the best of the visitor economy. 4. There was general consensus among market traders, market customers and local businesses about the need for markets to capitalise on the town centre’s evening economy and improve their ability to deliver a unique experience to visitors and tourists as opportunity areas for development. Another area for improvement that visitors and local businesses agreed upon was a need for more events and entertainment to be offered by markets. 5. Visitors to markets were generally satisfied with local shops in the proximity of the market and their overall service quality, though less so with the variety of produce offered by markets. 6. Local business owners and managers saw saw collaboration between local shops and market traders as important, though this same issue was deemed to be of much less importance by market traders

Banning diesel vehicles in London: Is 2040 too Late?

Air pollution contributes to 9400 deaths annually in London and diesel vehicles are considered a major source of lethal air pollutants. Consequently, the UK government announced its intention to ban diesel vehicles by 2040 to achieve a sustainable zero-carbon road transport system. Since no empirical studies have used a bottom-up approach to seek Londoners’ views, it is therefore worth investigating the public opinion regarding this forthcoming ban. This paper aims to fill this research gap by taking London as a case study. A survey was designed, and fieldwork was conducted to distribute questionnaires to Londoners. Completed questionnaires were analysed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The findings revealed that the majority of Londoners would be in favour of the ban if they were sufficiently exposed to the appropriate sources of information and were favourably disposed towards environmental protection measures. The results also showed that Londoners were more likely to switch to electric vehicles (EVs) if they were offered generous incentives and encouraged to use scrappage schemes. The present study makes a strong case for enforcing the ban well before 2040. The significance of this research is to provide clearer signals regarding the future of diesel vehicles, which in turn will strengthen the EV policy and uptake

Policy packages for modal shift and CO2 reduction in Lille, France

This paper proposes different policy scenarios to cut CO2 emissions caused by the urban mobility of passengers. More precisely, we compare the effects of the ‘direct tool’ of carbon tax, to a combination of ‘indirect tools’ – not originally aimed at reducing CO2 (i.e. congestion charging, parking charges and a reduction in public transport travel time) in terms of CO2 impacts through a change in the modal split. In our model, modal choices depend on individual characteristics, trip features (including the effects of policy tools), and land use at origin and destination zones. Personal “CO2 emissions budgets” resulting from the trips observed in the metropolitan area of Lille (France) in 2006 are calculated and compared to the situation related to the different policy scenarios. We find that an increase of 50% in parking charges combined with a cordon toll of €1.20 and a 10% travel time decrease in public transport services (made after recycling toll-revenues) is the winning scenario. The combined effects of all the policy scenarios are superior to their separate effects

Factors driving public support for road congestion reduction policies: Congestion charging, free public transport and more roads in Stockholm, Helsinki and Lyon

Based on an across-the-board survey conducted among residents of Stockholm, Helsinki and Lyon, we explore the opinions on three policy measures to combat road congestion: congestion charging, free public transport and building more roads. The support for the two latter policies is substantially higher than the support for congestion charging, which is only supported by a majority in Stockholm. Self-interest is important for the formation of the opinion to all three policies. However, fundamental values and general political views, indicated by four attitudinal factors, are even more important in forming opinions towards the three transport policies. Of all attitudinal factors, the one indicating environmental concern most influences the support for all policies. Equity concerns, however, increase the support for free public transport and opposition to taxation increases the support for building more roads. Our results further suggest that the opinions towards free public transport and building more roads can be mapped along the left–right political axis, where Environment and Equity are to the left and Pricing and Taxation are to the right. However, the opinion towards congestion charging cuts right through the political spectrum. The impact of the fundamental values and self-interest variables are similar for Stockholm and Helsinki, indicating that even if experience increases the overall support for charging, it does not change the relative strength of different political arguments to any major extent

Implementing economic policy-tools for a low carbon mobility of passengers at the urban scale

Cette thèse s'intéresse à la réconciliation entre le défi mondial du changement climatique et les solutions locales et sectorielles qu'il convient de bien articuler pour contribuer, efficacement, équitablement et de la manière la plus acceptable, à la réduction des émissions de CO2. Plus précisément, nous étudions les conditions pour une mise en place réussie de la politique climatique à l'échelle de la mobilité urbaine des personnes.This PhD thesis deals with the reconciliation of the global challenge that is climate change and the local and sectoral solutions that need to be accurately designed to remedy to it the most efficiently, equitably and acceptably possible. More specifically, we investigate the conditions for a successful implementation of climate policy at the scale of the urban mobility of passengers

Shared mobility research: looking through a paradox lens

Cities’ high traffic concentration, fast technological change, resource scarcity and growing environmental concerns accentuate competing tensions between stakeholders, transport modes and policies in the mobility sector. Tensions become even more salient in shared mobility – a complex yet relatively new phenomenon at the intersection between sharing economy and the transport sector – and raise numerous concerns for meeting sustainability objectives. The purpose of this paper is to identify conflicting demands associated with shared mobility by conducting a systematic literature review. Our results reveal several contradictions related to shared mobility and sustainability goals, and relations between those constantly evolving in a dynamic fashion. Thus, although shared mobility represents a step forward in achieving sustainability in theory, in practice, this task is only partially completed due to existing inherent contradictions. A paradox perspective on shared mobility, proposed in this paper, provides grounds for revisiting policy actions and finding workable solutions for practitioners

Potential accessibility to the workplace by public transit and its social distribution in Lille, France: A scenario-based equity appraisal

In this paper, we appraise the social equity of urban mobility policy following Levinson and Krizek\u27s (2018) and Zelinski\u27s (1971) principles of “mobility revolution” and “time geography” and building on recommendations from the European Consortium on Transport Equity analysis (TEA COST Action, 2012). From the database of professional trips made within the 85 municipalities of Lille metropole in 2016, we calculate and set the potential accessibility to the workplace by public transport (PT) at the municipal level, as the ‘good to redistribute’. This allows us to identify the municipalities the most lagging behind, based on the household motorisation rate as well as the potential jobs reachable via the PT system. Then, starting from general observations on sociodemographic differences among commuters to access the job market, we aggregate this indicator at the scale of commuter groups – by gender, household structure, educational background, socio-professional category, and immigration status, defining the ‘members of the society’. Lastly, to test our results and in consultation with local transport authorities, we simulate a reduction of the PT commuting times from the least served municipalities of 10% and then 25%. We analyse the effects of our scenarios on the number and value of the accessible jobs gained, per commuter group, as well as considering different subsets of the municipalities (targeting those with low levels of car ownership). Interpreting results in the light of our decision rule, an extension of the Sufficiency approach, we conclude that transport-oriented policy alone is not the panacea to address social equity and that cross-sectoral solutions are needed, particularly when considering impedance factors and car dependent households

Potential accessibility to the workplace by public transit and its social distribution in Lille, France: an equity appraisal

In this paper, we propose a proxy measure to appraise equity in urban mobility policy based on the theoretical framework developed by the European cooperation in the field of transport equity (TEA COST, 2012). Using the commuting trips database of 2006 for the Lille metropolitan area, and geo-localized employment data from the French Census of 2010, we compute an indicator of the potential accessibility to the workplace by public transport (PT) at the municipal level, as the “good to redistribute”. This allows us to identify the municipalities that are most lagging behind in terms of PT travel time, to reach what we define as the synthetic potential job market. Then, starting from general observations on social differences among commuters to access the labor market, we aggregate this indicator at the scale of commuter groups – by gender, household structure, educational background, socio-professional category and immigration status (defining the “members of the society”). Lastly, we simulate a reduction of the PT commuting times by 20% and 40% from the least served municipalities, and analyse the effects on the number and value of the accessible jobs gained by each travelers group. Interpreting results in the light of our “yardstick rule” (Sufficiency approach), we conclude that transport-oriented policy alone is not the panacea to address equity and that cross-sectoral solutions are needed

Does active transport lead to improved mood and performance? A panel study of travel changes during the Covid-19 lockdown in Norway

Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Everyday commuting is seen as a burden and an unwanted necessity for people. Recent studies have challenged this notion and have found that certain aspects of commuting can be positive. In particular, research has shown that active commuting can be an important source of everyday physical activity and a pause between arenas for daily routine. The current study uses the Covid-19 lockdown situation in Norway, and the associated travel restrictions, as a backdrop to study the relationship between active travel and self-reported mood and work performance. In a situation where people are strongly encouraged to take up active mobility forms in place of more passive forms, the often-encountered challenge of self-selection is reduced. A convenience sample was recruited via social media (N=1319) in May 2020 and completed a total of six follow-up surveys over a period of four months, thus allowing for a panel design as well as a within-subjects comparison. The survey covered topics related to commute mode, experience of travel, current mood, and work performance. Background variables related to personality, general wellbeing as well as sociodemographic measures were also captured. Multivariate models show that those who during this period commute with active modes (walking and cycling) report a higher degree of travel satisfaction than users of passive modes (driving and public transport). Further, active modes are associated with being in a better mood, and with reporting higher work performance. Finally, looking at individuals who over time change travel mode (N= 151), we find that they report improved mood and work performance when travelling with active vs. passive modes. The results have implications for policy makers and for employers looking for justification to spend company money on measures to increase active travel.Does active transport lead to improved mood and performance? A panel study of travel changes during the Covid-19 lockdown in NorwaypublishedVersio