Good day my good friend.

I don’t often have the chance to focus on the news of specific initiatives in specific areas. Partly because TransportXtra do a good job of this, but partly because I don’t want this to be a list of things that have happened in transport. Heaven forbid we have enough newsletters doing that. But seeing plans for improving transport between Watford and Croxley made me smile a lot. Hello zombie transport schemes.

If you have any suggestions for interesting news items or bits of research to include in this newsletter, you can email me.

James

Is the key to MaaS making it seamless?

Writing a book on Mobility as a Service means that I am reading a lot of articles on in (its seriously worrying how much literature has been published, trust me). A new editorial focusses on whether people are missing the fact that the system needs to be made seamless. I kind of get its point, but it focusses a bit too much on price and time, and relating this to personal choices.

The real MaaS challenge is to design an offer that aligns with levels of effort and seamlessness that matter to an individual and improves on the current movement circumstance. This means that even within different segments of travellers (e.g. the elderly vs young, tech-savvy vs. tech-dummy), the MaaS product will be different as various levels of effort dictate different choices.

Personally, I think the barrier related to this is more fundamental. If you can’t get organisations to sign up to mutually-beneficial business deals and data sharing, none of this means anything. Focus on the basic building blocks first.

Don’t like depressing road safety statistics? Look away now

The UK’s road speed compliance statistics are out. It is not a pretty read. In built up areas, the majority of cars are travelling above the speed limit, and its just under 50% for motorways as well. What was really interesting was the impacts of lockdown on compliance. During the first lockdown, those that were driving were basically speeding. It’s a fun, fun read.

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.

• Deere & Co won’t give out software and data needed for repairs, watchdog told (The Register)

• The Invasion of Ukraine Is Causing Crisis at Sea (Foreign Policy)

• Three observations about justifying AI (Journal of Medical Ethics)

• Rewilding Argentina: lessons for the 2030 biodiversity targets (Nature)

• Artificial intelligence and corporate social responsibility can strengthen anti-corruption efforts (The Conversation)

Something interesting

Just remember: valuation is based on potential, not actual.

If you do nothing else today, then do this

The World Bank has launched the Global Facility to Decarbonize Transport. It intends to help finance low and zero carbon transport in developing countries. You should check it out.