Plus a video about London Bridge
Good day my good friend.
Is there an anniversary for 250? I’m not sure. It feels like an important number, but not a milestone, if you get my meaning. Anyway, thank you for coming this far with me. You are good people for doing that. To the news.
James
How will fleet owners adopt autonomous vehicles? It’s not all about long distance freight.
A good reason why fleet owners could be among the first adopters of autonomous vehicles is a simple one. If they prove to be more economical to run and equally as reliable, the business case practically writes itself. But a lot of factors affect operations: the type of cargo, vehicle mix, location of distribution centres and maintenance depots to name but a few.
New research has sought to identify typologies of different fleet owners and how they are likely to adopt autonomous vehicles. Their research does, however, pose a finding that states that there may be more early adopters of the technology than we would reasonably expect:
The sizes of the Innovators and Early Majority classes would respectively be four and two times of DOI’s general suggestion. Overall, it is speculated that the CAT (Connected and Autonomous Trucks) adopter distribution may not be a bell-shaped curve but more of a right-skewed figure. This can be contributed to explicit financial benefits of CATs which could incentivize companies to adopt earlier.
Public transport in the UK may not get the chance to Build Back Better
For buses and trains in the UK, the bill for keeping going during the COVID-19 pandemic is now due. And it is being paid for by service cuts and broken political promises. Ridership across all public transport is still down, and this means that rail service cuts that were introduced may now not be reversed, while government funding for bus services will be cut.
I won’t for one second say that how we delivered public transport in the UK before COVID-19 was right. But this is a shameful dereliction of duty. When public transport needs support more than ever, the bean counters take over. People don’t like people who cut bus services, but they really don’t like people who promise their buses will be improved before cutting them. History will not be a good judge on the times we are about to face.
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.
Outdated Laws Governing Undersea Cables Need Modernizing (gCaptain)
For a Rural Community at the Crossroads of Crude Oil, the Politics of Energy Are Complicated (The Daily Yonder)
How Can Cities Rapidly Expand Access to Cycling Infrastructure? (Urban Wire)
Companies Are Desperate for Workers. Why Aren’t They Doing the One Thing That Will Attract Them? (Slate)
Something interesting
How to make bridges interesting.
If you do nothing else today, then do this
Read this technical note from the RAC Foundation on the impact of shifting to electric vehicles on fuel duty revenues.
Mobility Matters 