Good day my good friend.

I try not to push my own thing too much in this newsletter. But after yesterday’s announcement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer that will both increase emissions and not do anything for the poorest in society, I feel the urge to make an exception here:

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

James

Should we cap parking numbers at new developments?

If you follow the work of Donald Shoup, the answer is probably yes. CoMo UK have also made the case that parking spaces should be capped at one per dwelling. So should maximum parking standards be the norm from now on? As always, the evidence is somewhat varied, and depends on what your view of success is.

Maximum parking standards have certainly reduced the amount of parking put forward in planning applications. There is some evidence that the relationship between parking standards and public transport is two way (i.e. maximum parking standards may not be so effective further away from public transport). What the research does show is that, just because minimum standards are often bad, does not mean that maximum standards are good. Parking, and its relation with sustainable transport, is nuanced.

Subsidies are meant to correct market mistakes (or at least partly). But they can mess things up too

I have fond memories of how, during a passenger transport service review, I had to try and justify spending £45 on a taxi to take some kids to school instead of putting on a new bus service. It showed that the act of subsidising services – in this case home to school transport – can lead to economically inefficient outcomes.

A new research paper reviewing subsidies in air transport markets takes a similar line. It concludes that providing a fixed subsidy per trip is ‘superior’ to providing subsidy based on value. But determining what offers best value requires a route-by-route assessment. Part of the reason being that because the routes are often low demand, minor variations in things like journey types can have a huge impact.

Delivery drivers and riders were affected by COVID-19 too

Just a quickie to touch on, because it is often overlooked. A lot of delivery drivers and riders suffered from healthcare issues during COVID-19. The forgotten workforce seems to have been forgotten again.

The riders who were less consistent in adopting health and safety measures tended to be male, older, less-educated, and vaccinated. Also, they were under greater financial pressure and had suffered a larger loss of income during the pandemic. To recover the loss, they worked longer hours and felt under more intense pressure at work. The job pressure, long working hours, and financial burdens led many drivers to adopt risky traffic behaviors, such as speeding. Conversely, where the companies and co-workers were more supportive, riders tended to adopt health prevention measures more often.

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.

• Will Transformers Take Over Artificial Intelligence? (Quanta Magazine)

• Structurally deficient bridges in Pittsburgh, mapped (Boing Boing)

• Why it matters if Saudi Arabia sells oil in Chinese yuan instead of US dollars (Quartz)

• Storms and sea level rise could cost ports billions (The Verge)

• New Rules Put Net Zero Pledges Under Scrutiny (The Wall Street Journal)

Something interesting

Simple, and powerful.

If you do nothing else today, then do this

Check out Earth 2050. Click on a city, and see the future. Its a brilliant website.

I messed up

You have to admit your mistakes sometimes. In yesterday’s newsletter, and the article about evaluating evaluations, I got it wrong, as some of you pointed out. The paper mentioned that the criticisms of CBA were ill-conceived, rather than criticisms of the appraisal process. While I quoted the abstract text, I messed up the interpretation of it.

Needless to say that words were said by management, and such mistakes are less likely to happen again. Check out the review itself and make up your own mind on it.