Mobility Matters Daily #246 – City centres and equity of express buses

Another day in transport paradise

Good day my good friend.

A big thank you to those of you who, again, expressed your interest in testing the new version of the Future Mobility Scenario Game. I’m still looking for a few more people to help test it, and add a bit of depth to your strategy and policy development. To register your interest, simply respond via email!

To the news.

James

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The British City Centre is dying as a retail centre. So what do we do about it?

The Centre for Cities recently published its Cities Outlook 2022, and as this analysis of the High Street Post-COVID has shown, for retailers in the city centre its not good. The picture is complicated, but can best be summarised as vacancy rates of retail units has remained largely unchanged, but the more successful city centres took a big sales hit. Where it matters is what we do about it.

The Centre for Cities recommends more than cosmetic changes, and a look at structural reform to benefit business in cities. Well-meaning, but for us in transport it poses a fundamental question. If our transport networks are built around flows into and out of city centres, what sort of network do we want to support the city centre of the future, and how do we design it?

Do the rich benefit from speed on public transport? Evidence from Montreal says yes

A fun part of debates around willingness to pay is whether it is right or not to charge people more for an express service. If they are willing to pay more and the revenue is redistributed, that’s good, right? Willingness to pay for express services is well established by research, and there is extensive research on the value of time of those using express services. But are these services equitable?

Researchers looked at the use of express bus services in Montreal and assessed the accessibility benefits of them. In short, the express routes generally benefitted people who live in wealthier areas of the city. And this occurs despite outlying areas of the city being lower income on the whole.

Random things

These links are meant to make you think about the things that affect our world in transport, and not just think about transport itself. I hope they do just that.

The Simpsons, Which Predicted Everything, Had One Episode About Actually Predicting (Cracked)
What If Moscow Cancels Airline Overflight Rights? (Defense One)
Ageing – A fact of life that continues to fascinate (Nature)
The Future 100: 2022 (Wunderman Thompson)
Return of Full-Body Bus Advertising Wrap for Chingay50 Buses (Land Transport Guru)

Something interesting

If you do nothing else today, then do this

Read From Promises to Action: 6 Sustainability Stories to Watch in 2022.