Good day my good friend.

Visuals tell a story, as I mentioned when reporting yesterday on the story about buses in England. So when I see this on the front page of the BBC, it was somewhat disappointing. Come on, Auntie. There is more to a three day weekend than traffic jams on the motorway,

PSA: As we are having another public holiday on Monday here in the UK, the next version of Mobility Matters Daily will be on Tuesday.

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

James

Aircraft noise is bad, mmmkay, we should do less aircraft noise

When growing up, I lived under the flight path of aircraft approaching an air force base. Having an RAF Tornado on approach to the runway fly 200 metres above your home is loud. When the base closed, the difference was unimaginable. So that’s why this study of the impacts of COVID-19 on aircraft noise in areas surrounding Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport doesn’t shock me.

The impacts on different population groups vary. This article is a really good summary of the whole science around aircraft noise. But interestingly, there appears to be no evidence anywhere of more traditionally disadvantaged population groups being disproportionately affected by aircraft noise systemically across airports. Where it does happen, it appears to be largely a local matter. That, I did not expect.

Your occasional reminder that putting off maintenance is a false economy

The Transport Technology Forum published research findings (the report of which I’ve yet to see online, by the way) that shows that local authorities in the UK have a traffic signal maintenance backlog of some £80 million. In addition, the UK road maintenance backlog stood at some £11 billion in 2020.

It’s a problem long ignored, and government funding on potholes doesn’t help that much. If you have potholes on a road, the surface has failed already. And by saying how much you are doing to tackle them shows how much you are doing to stick plaster over a gaping wound. Tell you what. There is £20+ billion going to road upgrades. Lets take half of that, and deploy the same staff to fix the roads we have.

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 that you enjoy them.

• Western-Led Globalization Might End, but the New Globalization Might Have an Eastern Face (Pressenza)

• Autonomous Mayflower to attempt Atlantic crossing, again (The Register)

• MaaS Alliance signs MoU with MobilityData (MaaS Alliance)

• The Dream of Virtual Reality (The Convivial Society)

• It’s Not Too Late to Stop Mass Extinction in the Ocean (Wired)

Something interesting

Imagine this. You are in an Airbus A300 flying down a narrow valley in the Himalayas. Mountains towering all around you. One mistake and you cannot recover the aircraft in time. Then when you first see the runway, you have to land the aircraft on it within 30 seconds whilst turning. If you miss it, you run the gauntlet again. That’s the approach to Paro Airport.

If you do nothing else today, then do this

Read this article by Lucy Marstrand-Taussig on why global warming can’t wait, and what we need to do as transport professionals.