Good day my good friend.
I never thought it would get this far. 500 up! I have a little special something for you all to celebrate the occasion. But I wanted to say thank you to everyone for continuing to read and support the newsletter. You are the reason I do this, and the reason I have got this far with it all. Thank you!
In case you are wondering what the reference in the title is, or you have never heard of the West Indian batsman who smashed a cricket ball around for fun, it refers to this famous innings in 1994.
If you have any suggestions for interesting news items or bits of research to include in this newsletter, you can email me.
James
Special offer for you lovely, lovely people
Its a joyous occasion. And because I am a very nice person (some would say benevolent, just, and all round good guy :)), I thought I would treat you to something nice. That is, trialling a paid subscription to Mobility Matters Daily for free for a month. To claim it, you just need to do one thing: sign up by clicking on this link by this Saturday.
What do you get for it? The link to the below newsletter from last Friday should give you an idea, but in case you want it spelled out: an ad-free daily newsletter and extra content on a Friday on a transport matter of relevance. And if you want to keep it on, prices are from £6 a month (there is a discount if you pay for the year). But if its not for you, just let it expire. So go on. Give it a go!
500 is the number
How many transport-related things with the number 500 can I fit into two paragraphs? I set myself this insane task, and spent far too long researching it. Here goes. You can do the North Coast 500 by public transport. The 500 bus runs from Aylesbury to Hemel Hempstead. The Japanese railway ran the 500 series Shinkansen until they retired the trains in 2010, and were significantly better than the Class 500s the UK rail network has. Its here I start to struggle.
Meanwhile, walking just an extra 500 steps a day can help save your heart. But if you wanted to be more extreme, Amanda Coker cycled over 500 miles in a day, becoming the first woman to do so. 500 knots is the average cruise speed of a commercial airliner. And finally, how could I forget the 500 in this classic song?
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.
This new version of quantum theory is even stranger than the original (New Scientist)
Political endorsements can affect scientific credibility (Nature)
The EV mining rush could come to Montana’s mountains (High Country News)
Explainer: What is Generative AI, the technology behind OpenAI’s ChatGPT? (Reuters)
From high-speed rail to the Olympics, why do big projects go wrong? (The Economist)
Something interesting
Will connected cars break the internet? Maybe not. Apart from my home broadband, but an ant glancing at the router can break my broadband. But they will eat up a tonne of storage capacity. The average connected car fills a Blue-ray disc worth of data in just two seconds.
If you do nothing else today, then do this
The IPCC delivered its annual dose of bad news about the climate. Read the report, go scream into a pillow for a while, and then come away wanting to do more. Then do it.
Mobility Matters 