Good day my good friend.
As if the world isn’t full of enough joyous news, Europe being asked to prepare to prepare for 15% of its gas supplies being cut off is a joy to behold. Not that I don’t agree with reducing fossil fuel consumption, but cutting off 15% at once is a tough transition. But maybe this could be the Dutch moment for the rest of Europe? We shall wait and see.
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. Seriously, they are starting to really sell now.
James
The future of rural travel is something that needs understanding, patience, and realising not all rural is the same
A recent post by the Future Transport Visions Group on their next round of projects got me thinking. Two of them focus on rural matters specifically – Improving Rural Liveability and Accessibility Toolkit, and a Rural Mobility Toolkit – Engaging the Community. With the UK government issuing a call for evidence on their emerging strategy last year, more people are taking an interest in this. But the rural mobility challenge, as the Scottish Rural and Islands Transport Community (SRITC) so ably put it, vary in their needs, and transport schemes need to be developed with close engagement of communities and truly holistically. A notable example being thinking about what public services you will provide first, and how you will design the bus stop at your new mobility hub second.
If you want a good start, Midlands Connect have been doing some excellent work on future rural mobility (transparency: I have done some work for them, but honestly what they have done is good). I also highly recommend coming to SRITC’s Gathering in Boat of Garten in September. Rural transport can be easy to diagnose, but can only be solved with time, patience, and engagement. So give it that, and you will do well.
Varying factors affect the land use value uplift associated with rail investments
I understand the need to identify an economic value associated with schemes. You literally cannot get the money to deliver them without it. But one of the things I am less convinced about is how land value uplift plays a role in determining whether a scheme is good or not. I get that land value capture can be a very useful way of financing schemes, but is this really a signifier of a good scheme? Or is it just a measure of the impact of the scheme in a more objective sense?
A new meta-analysis of the impact of rail investments has not done much for my scepticism on this. It shows that rail investments generally increase land values, but this is tempered by a number of different factors. This includes the prevalence of rent controls, housing types, ethnicities, and the extent of the rail network. No doubt us planners will continue to have this debate for a long time to come, but I am yet to see the value in land value uplift being seen as an economic success indicator.
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.
Lost city, a real-life ‘Helm’s Deep,’ possibly discovered in Iraq (Live Science)
A Brief History of Airplane Hijackings, From the Cold War to D.B. Cooper (Smithsonian Magazine)
These odd NSA motivational posters from the 1960s look like props from The Prisoner (Boing Boing)
Many community stormwater systems aren’t prepared for climate change (Yale Climate Connections)
Something interesting
Yes, I’m sharing my own tweet again. But after I pointed out how my local council seemed to be proud of a rather poor parking scheme, the Council have at least responded and explained themselves with pictures. This is good practice in clear communications, even if what they have done is wrong in my view. Us transport planners should be more willing to explain ourselves like this.
If you do nothing else today, then do this
The Urban Transport Group is on a role with the reports, and their latest looks as decarbonising the suburbs. Yes, people live there, and they are car centred. But that makes it even more important that we decarbonise them.
Mobility Matters 