Good day my good friend.
Its not every day you see a Boeing 747 take off from a quiet Cornish town to the tune of Start Me Up by the Rolling Stones. But that is what happened yesterday at the first launch at the new spaceport in Newquay. At time of writing, the actual launch hasn’t occurred yet. While I know the questionable value of space exploration compared to the challenges we face here, the 10 year old in me thinks this is seriously cool.
Also, Happy 160th Birthday to the London Underground. On this day in 1863, the Metropolitan Railway opened the line between Paddington and Farringdon (that is still in use today). Let the always-excellent Geoff Marshall take you through what happened from there.
If you have any suggestions for interesting news items or bits of research to include in this newsletter, you can email me.
James
Transport poverty is a problem of definition, as well as a problem
This article from The Guardian, citing an unlinked study that says that car culture is a bad thing for transport poverty, has been doing the rounds on social media. The fact that there is no link to the study immediately sets hares running for me. Plus the fact that the evidence on car ownership and transport poverty is nauanced at best.
Lets make this clear. Transport poverty is not about being wedded to a single mode, or that mode costing a fortune. It is a multi-faceted phenomenon that needs to be considered as such. It incorporates matters like subjective wellbeing, tokenistic actions, and relationships with other types of poverty. As well as spatial, mobility, and financial cost. Part of the reason that we as policy makers are not doing so well is because we have struggled to define it. And studies with a press release and no study don’t help.
What makes a city?
I urge you to stay with me, as I have a point here. This article on how many cities there are in Wales got me thinking. The way by which we define what is a city in the UK is completely arbitary. Tom Scott did a video on this (of course he did), which essentially concluded that a city is a city in the UK because it is on a list. Not this rubbish about Royal Charters or Cathedrals, just that its on a list.
What impact does this have on transport? Not a damn thing. That’s determined by the characteristics of the area (e.g. population size) as opposed to whether a place has a bit of paper saying its a city. But in policy making, it does matter. With a focus on cities as engines for growth, and lots of transport money going to cities, maybe, just maybe, becoming a city may give a slight helping hand in making your transport system better.
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.
Study Shows How The Universe Would Look if You Broke The Speed of Light, And It’s Weird (Science Alert)
Are Our Brains Wired to Quiet Quit? (Harvard Business Review)
Electric Vehicles Are Bringing Out the Worst in Us (The Atlantic)
Indoor Kids (Slate)
Something interesting
Namibia – one of the longest coastlines of any country, yet it only has one port. And as this video shows, this is because of the power of geography and the climate.
If you do nothing else today, then do this
If you are a member of the Transport Planning Society, they are asking for your help. They want member’s submissions to inform the TPS response to the Transport Select Committee’s call for evidence on Strategic Road Investment. So, if you have data or insight that will be useful and you want to have your say, then say it! All the details on how to do it are in the article.
Mobility Matters 