Mobility Matters Daily #236 – Rural markets and level crossings

Never thought I would have them in the same newsletter…

Good day my good friend.

You know what its like. You ask for an extension for months, bust a gut to get things ready for an impossible deadline, only at the last minute to have the extension you wanted so much. But now you are annoyed about it. Anyone working on Enhanced Partnerships knows what I mean. Here is today’s news.

James

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People like being around other people. So lets help rural residents access people and not just services

This research paper on access to markets (as in the street kind, not the economic construct) in rural China highlights all sorts of transport metrics like its easier for people to access markets if they live closer to them. But the interviews in the research highlighted something interesting: people value the market as an opportunity to meet people. As the study states:

Rural periodic markets have played a significant role both in providing the basic essentials for rural residents and in prospering the rural economy and promoting rural revitalization.

This highlights two important things. Firstly, accessibility is both a spatial and a temporal construct. We focus too much on the former. But secondly is thinking about accessibility in terms of access to social connections. Ironically, the UK government is looking to fund schemes to tackle loneliness through transport. Impaired mobility is a big factor in rural loneliness. Research into older people in rural areas reveals that while transport does not create loneliness, poor transport makes it harder to tackle. So lets help people connect to people.

Level crossings – a case where road building may be a good thing?

The tale of a level crossing in Foxton in Cambridgeshire is one told across the world. Level crossings, built before cars were even a thing in many cases, are a problem. On the one hand, they are a huge safety issue for both vehicle occupants and railways. But solving the issue is expensive and inherently more complex than simple risk management approaches would dictate.

Furthermore, level crossings do something obvious: provide access and a solution to the severance caused by a railway line. Simply closing them (the simple and cheap solution) may not be an option, and you can’t rely on human behavior. Despite the value of lives saved (not to mention train disruption) building a crossing may not be suitable either. But maybe, just maybe, building a road may be the solution in some cases?

Random things

These links are meant to make you think about the things that affect our world in transport. I hope they do just that.

Stendhal syndrome: The travel syndrome that causes panic (BBC)
My first impressions of web3 (Moxie Marlinspike)
Melting Sea Ice Forces Polar Bears to Travel Farther to Survive (Treehugger)
Milton Keynes plays Fetch with remote-controlled ride-hailing (Transport Network)
Ending West Lothian transport poverty key to the future for rural residents (Edinburgh Live)

Something interesting

If you do nothing else today, then do this

My good friends at SRITC are running an open Café on rural transport on 28th January. You should attend, so go and sign up.