Good day my good friend.

I must start this newsletter by thanking all of you who came to Mobility Camp last week. It was amazing to see so many of you there, and whilst I did not get as much time as I would have liked to speak to each of you (organisers curse), I hope that you all enjoyed yourself. It was certainly an amazing day for us organisers.

Also, if you so happen to be in Amsterdam on Thursday for the Mobility-as-a-Service in Europe Conference, come and say hi! I will be moderating a couple panels on that day, and it would be great to chat!

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

James

Should we ban short haul flights?

This was the debate that I did not expect to happen. Spurred on by celebrities flying stupidly short distances, and France being much more proactive on short haul flights, should short haul flights be banned? As ever, breaking such a thing down into something simple is riddled with risks, and can make us miss things that may be more valuable.

This latest research article attempts to state that banning would be problematic because in terms of fuel burned, long-haul flights are much worse. Yet per kilometre, the carbon emissions of domestic flights is really bad. The truth in terms of what is ‘worse’ for carbon emissions is likely somewhere between these. But here is another idea. In the future, all domestic flights must be heavily taxed (unless they are socially necessary routes), and must only be powered by low-carbon fuel sources.

Fare-free public transport means less kids cycling

Never expected to hear that. But a new study appears to confirm that when public transport becomes free, then kids cycle less. Or at least they seem to in Mikkeli, Finland. That’s not good right? Not necessarily. This is because while children cycled less, their overall time using active travel stayed the same because they were walking to the bus stop instead.

Discount fares for young people, including in cities like London, do result in more young people using public transport. But as this report shows, this is not bad news for active travel. Public transport is a multi-modal journey, and the evidence shows that free public transport at worst has no impact on the total use of active travel. Whether or not that means free public transport is a good thing is another question entirely.

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 brain undergoes a great “rewiring” after age 40 (Big Think)

• High-Temperature Superconductivity Understood at Last (Quanta)

• The utopian machine (Aeon)

• Tesla robot walks, waves, but doesn’t show off complex tasks (AP)

• What do Nord Stream methane leaks mean for climate change? (Nature)

Something interesting

There is a technique to fording rivers. Clearly not one taught to the drivers in this video. The first step is that if the river is in full flood, the water depth is more than 4 inches, or you are simply unsure, then don’t do it. No matter what Google Maps says.

If you do nothing else today, then do this

Read this article by the Shared Use Mobility Center on volunteer driver programmes. This kinds of programmes often fail because it is difficult to maintain the energy of volunteer drivers. But initiatives such as the Volunteer Drivers Coalition in Minnesota are trying to change that.