Good day my good friend.
Let’s keep today’s introduction short and sweet, shall we? We are all busy, after all.
If you have any suggestions for interesting news items or bits of research to include in this newsletter, you can email me.
James
NaP(TAN) time
My UK subscribers will probably know all about NaPTAN, or the National Public Transport Access Nodes. In plain English: a dataset giving the location of every bus stop, tram stop, ferry terminal, and train station in the UK. Despite it being the backbone of public transport navigation data in the UK since…forever, the Department for Transport is considering its future. Here is where this Discovery report comes in.
Essentially, the report recommends that rather than scrapping NaPTAN – because its useful – it should be doing more. There should be more data on facilities, stop lengths, availability of staff, and even data on shared mobility. A specific focus should be on accessibility data, which is to be welcomed as there is no common standard for this. This is one for data geeks to watch with interest, that’s for sure.
Oldies on the Internet
You can imagine the scene now when I say “elderly” and “using the internet.” Some old lady sat in the corner trying to work out how to use the internet on their phone. Well, this is something that needs dispelling. They are rapidly adopting using the internet for all sorts of activities, even if the tech still needs to catch up with their needs. And now, that is coming true when it comes to the relationship between using the internet and travelling.
This study of elderly adults in the USA looked at just this. The conclusion could not be clearer: “the results show that ICT usage and daily travel for shopping, social and recreational, and healthcare purposes among older Americans are positively related.” Or simply: the more people use the internet the more they travel, and the less they use it the less they travel. And its only partly explained by incomes. Time to challenge some assumptions about growing old (dis)gracefully.
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.
Why Cape Town is one of the world’s most beguiling cities (CNN)
The return of silvopasture (Aeon)
Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch Is Bursting With Life (Wall Street Journal)
Should we study geoengineering a lot more? (Bangkok Post)
Something interesting
This video has everything for a joyous Friday. It has kids riding on bikes. What more do you need?
If you do nothing else today, then do this
This article is a decent summary of the current state of play on autonomous vehicles. Its…challenging.
Mobility Matters 