Good day my good friend.

Right, is it possible that the Western world could go without some sort of political crisis for 5 minutes, please? Honestly. If it carries on like this I may need to have words with the lot of them. It’s hard enough keeping up with the transport news.

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

You should also join a lot of like-minded people at Mobility Camp in Bristol in September. Get your tickets now.

James

Government wants to know what the rail freight target should be

Thank you to Michael Whittaker for pointing out this consultation document to me, where Great British Railways are asking for everyone’s views on identifying a rail freight target for the country. This is part of the wider plan on the future of freight in the UK. As a great believer in being you are what you measure, setting such a target is definitely of interest to me.

For me, my view is slightly simplistic. It depends what we want the railway to do. There will always be competing demands: hauling loads, or hauling loads of passengers? At the moment, the UK network does a reasonable job of balancing this in favour of rail passenger services. So does that mean we can be ambitious for rail freight? All of your thoughts on this are very much welcome!

Planning for cycling in local government is a challenging thing

If you want to fix the leak you fix the plumbing. And I am very much a proponent of fixing the plumbing in transport planning. Its a hugely unsexy job trying to sort out public engagement, monitoring and evaluation, and the politics. But when you do, its highly, highly rewarding. That’s why I love articles like this. It touches on an age-old issue – translating research into practice on cycling. The findings are not a shock, but speak to how much work that needs doing.

Key findings suggest there is support among local government officers and stakeholders for cycling to play an increased role in daily transportation, yet this support is much more mixed at the implementation stage of cycling plans, policies, and infrastructure projects. These findings indicate a pressing need to better equip local government practitioners with tools and knowledge to overcome barriers to providing for cycling, particularly in increasingly politicized and complex contexts.

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.

• Just keep your returns: Stores weigh paying you not to bring back unwanted items (CNN)

• Mercedes-Benz prepares car production network for new electric portfolio (Mercedes-Benz)

• The giant hangar poised for an aviation revolution (BBC)

• Quantum Computing for Dummies (IEEE Spectrum)

• Banana Ships And The Hidden Fees Of Ship Cargo (gCaptain)

Something interesting

Today I learned the UN has its own airline. Which makes sense, I guess.

If you do nothing else today, then do this

This is a transport model with a difference. Stanford University now allow you to explore a geospatial model of the Roman Empire. You can calculate the flows from Rome to Londinium, and from Constantinople to Carthage. Its brilliant.