With a map showing countries where the roads are worse than in the UK

Good day my good friend.

Another day, another batch of transport goodness to share with you all. Though I do have a small request, if I may. Share the love of this newsletter with good friends and colleagues. And if this love has been shared with you, please sign up to receive your own dose every day.

Enough of the sell, onto the good stuff.

James

In car payments are becoming more and more complicated

Car manufacturers are now making a play into paying for services whilst in the vehicle. Whilst some of this is things like ordering coffee while driving, some is actually useful. Ryd just received a load of cash from BP Ventures, to expand it services that allow you to pay for fuel, car washes, and electric vehicle charging. Hyundai is making a similar play, and Visa has been working hard in this space for ages. Driving just become even more profitable.

Smart Motorways are now an article of faith

Few things depress me more than the debates around smart motorways. The evidence stock-take says that they are at least as safe as other improvements, although they could be better. Now the Office of Rail and Road has said, yep, the data collection for that was ok with them. National Highways (formerly Highways England – no, I have no idea why they have changed their name either) are making the improvements recommended, including to data collection. Can we just kill this debate for a while, please?

In-work poverty is a transport planning blindspot

The planned cut in Universal Credit in the UK is likely to create significant hardship for the 6 million currently claiming it. As transport planners, we see the impacts of such things simplistically: get people to work to boost their income. But 17.4% of UK working households are in poverty, a percentage that is rising. Transport costs are, in some cases, keeping people in poverty, particularly in getting to and from essential services. But if you want some ideas on what to do, check out this report by UCL from 2014. Its very good.

Something interesting for today

Poor Moldova. If the UK’s road network is a pothole-ridden hellscape, I dread to think what yours are like. The World Economic Forum provides the data for you to delve into it.

If you do nothing else today, do this…

Press the button.