Good day my good friend.

It’s days like today that make you appreciate how much transport workers go above and beyond. The degree to which train drivers can cripple an entire service in the UK by simply working to their contracts and no more is quite something. “Unofficial strike action” my foot.

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. Sponsorship slots are also available.

James

How smell affects our mood and how we travel

This article in Grist about how electric cars could spell the end to the smell of petrol got me thinking. What role does smell play in how we experience places and different modes of transport? I will admit that the smell of petrol triggers my childhood memories of buying chocolate bars from the petrol station on the way home after school. But I can’t be alone in this, surely?

Of no shock to anyone, its not well understood. I did find this research into smell maps and the narrative of place (a real title, that), and smell has been measured as a comfort indicator on public transport to varying degrees, such as this example of Istanbul. Otherwise, we don’t tend to think about how we can improve how cities and transport smell in our work. Maybe its worth a PhD paper on?

Maybe, just maybe, the tide is turning on climate change

Much has been spoken of this, but the Inflation Reduction Act just passed in the US may just be the turning point in tackling climate change. On the transport side, it includes tax credits for electric vehicles as the most notable policy, but also funding for green investment banks and direct investment in green supply chains will also be of benefit to transport, and could reduce emissions substantially. It won’t solve every problem, but its a huge step in the right direction.

And slowly, but surely, we are taking the steps in the right direction. A full shift to low carbon energy is in sight. More and more countries are passing climate change laws that are sticking. Despite the idiots in charge, people overwhelmingly support action on net zero – it appears to be one of the few things we agree on! People overwhelmingly support initiatives to reduce traffic and associated emissions like Low Traffic Neighbourhoods. We are supporting, and now acting. The question now is whether we are acting too late and with too little pace.

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.

• Are we falling in love with robots? (BBC News)

• Using New Tech to Investigate Old Photographs (Bellingcat)

• Recycling dead trees could cut carbon emissions in US cities (New Scientist)

• The Tech That Tries to Tackle NIMBYs (CityLab)

• Alibaba’s e-commerce arm counts carbon to encourage you to buy more stuff (The Register)

Something interesting

Remember when remote working was going to be a lasting legacy of COVID? This excellent map shows that this appears to be the legacy in western Europe only, and very much less so in Eastern Europe. There is also data available on taking an online course.

If you do nothing else today, then do this

Thank you to Daisy Chapman-Chamberlain for sharing this website. It gives you the cost of rail or coach travel from selected places in Germany and Poland. Combine this with Rome2Rio and The Man in Seat 61, and international travel by public transport could really take off.