Good day my good friend.

I have some big news to share. Mobility Camp is taking place again this year, on 29th September in Bristol, and tickets are now on sale. And you should be there! Especially if you want to discuss ideas on how to back sustainable travel, and importantly take action. I look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible!

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

James

Visualising is cool

The Journal of Transport Geography has published a special edition on Visualising Transport Geography. Sadly, many of the articles are behind a paywall (but if you really want to see them, I always find emailing the authors helps). But even those posted as Open Access are really, really cool.

The first such article visualises analysis done of the optimal locations for installing electric vehicle charging points in Oxford. In summary: it depends on a lot of things. What is cool is that if you have QGIS, you can download the tool used and use it yourself. The second is a visualisation of cancelled air and high speed rail services in China due to COVID-19. What it showed was air services cut more deeply and more quickly in response to the pandemic. All the articles really show how cool and powerful visualisation is.

Carbon capture: as essential part of our low carbon future

This article in The Conversation on carbon capture technology is very interesting indeed. It focusses in detail on a specific example of removing carbon emissions from wood-burning power plants, and the uncertainty about the maths behind the grand statements and estimates about the technology. But it starts to touch on two key issues: that we need to start removing carbon from the atmosphere, and doing so is rife with difficulty.

The Government has done a consultation on the role of carbon offsetting in transport, which is along similar lines (naturally, nothing has been done since). But apart from that, not a whisper on this. All pathways to a low carbon future include carbon removal technology. So I think its time that we stopped talking carbon neutral transport, and we start talking about carbon negative transport.

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.

• The E-Bike Effect Is Transforming New York City (Bloomberg)

• The Only Winners at Putin’s Victory Day Parade? The Hackers Who Took Over Russian TV (Daily Beast)

• When Saviours Are the Problem (Challenging Development+)

• Uber Features Tesla Vehicles for New “Comfort Electric” Service (Tech Times)

• Sri Lanka Down to Last Day of Petrol, PM Tells Crisis-Hit Nation (The Wire)

Something interesting

Ever fancied walking on the track on the London Underground even while trains are running? Well now you can. Kind of.

If you do nothing else today, then do this

Sign up to Mobility Camp, of course. If you can’t do that (yet), at least forward this message to someone who you think might be interested!