Good day my good friend.

Now, I daresay things are getting back to normal on the news front. But rather than focussing on energy bills and England winning in the cricket again, I want to draw your attention to something many noticed as part of Monday’s proceedings in London. Namely a number of world leaders arriving at Westminster Abbey by coach. And not just any coach, but one that can only be described as the type that takes kids to school. And I am loving it.

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

For those of you coming to Mobility Camp in Bristol on 29th September, I will see you there. Tickets are sold out, but if you are still interested you can put your name on a reserve list. Or, sponsorship slots are still available.

James

The role of other modes when it all goes wrong

As people on the Great Western Mainline have found out this week, having alternatives when transport networks are disrupted is a very useful thing. People respond to disruption in a variety of ways, and in ways that are extremely complicated to plan for. And while there is significant short term disruption, people often return to their old ways even after really bad experiences. But that does not mean that opportunities do not exist to change travel behaviours, if there is the capacity to do so.

But as this experience in Milan shows, the capacity to do so is really difficult to deliver for one very simple reason. Replacing a high capacity mode (like trains) with lower capacity ones (like bike share) is not a like-for-like replacement. And doing so quickly is even more tricky, with even rapid responses taking several days or weeks to organise. Its not as if you can just pop up a bike lane when a train takes down a few wires and closes a line for a day. Planned disruption means a planned response. But when things are unplanned, for now we have to rely on our evolutionary advantage of adaptability.

Its going to be a bumpy ride

Ask most cyclists, and they will tell you that the quality of the surface of a cycle track or other infrastructure is very important indeed. And many of them will prefer cycling on asphalt compared to cycling on cobblestones. There is endless guidance on how to construct smooth, level surfaces that is very engineering led. Even with that, cyclists do have some degree of tolerance to some vibrations along their journey.

But in research that I know may annoy many of you, what about the role cyclists play in making things comfortable for themselves? Some new research indicates that the speed at which they cycle plays a huge role in the level of comfort they face. Which is logical, because if you hit a pothole at a faster speed you are certainly going to feel it more. So while improving the road surface is the most important thing, maybe, just maybe, don’t cycle like a crazy person where the road surface is bad? You’re not cycling in the Paris Roubaix you know.

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.

• Electric Vehicles Took Off. Car Makers Weren’t Ready (Wall Street Journal)

• Beware the rise of the black box algorithm (Financial Times)

• The Nissan Test: What any levelling up policy will need to pass if it is to be successful (Centre for Cities)

• Why are the majority of ‘Homes for Ukraine’ refugees living in England’s small villages? (City Monitor)

• Gender equality and the productivity agenda (Policy@Manchester)

Something interesting

I’m not so convinced by Chris and Melissa’s assertion that doubling rail patronage in the Netherlands has largely been achieved by making it easier to cycle to stations. But I do like the video in this tweet.

If you do nothing else today, then do this

I referenced this the other day, but you really should check out the Million Neighbourhoods Map and its accompanying research. It shows how mapping and understanding neighbourhoods need not be a complicated exercise to add value.