Good day my good friend.

Here we go again. A suspected drone has disrupted flights at Gatwick Airport, again. At least this time it was just for a few hours. I suspect that this is someone unhappy at the Eurovision result (come on, how could Finland NOT have won?). That or someone is happy playing with their new toy.

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

James

Road space reallocation is good

We have known for a long time that reallocating road space away from the private car has a number of health benefits. Just to list them: generally improved air quality, greater use of active travel with associated improvements to physical and mental health, reduced sedentary lifestyles. Need I go on? But what is often not thought about is how health benefits are not equally spread across different types of road users.

This is why this study of road space reallocation in Scotland is so interesting. Yes, it concludes that road space reallocation is generally good for health of the public. But also that the benefits were not being realised by users of buses in terms of how this is perceived by bus users. Considering that using the bus is generally good for your health, I would like to see further research on actual health impacts. But regardless, this is an interesting finding.

Speaking of variability

Another area where variability is strong is the impact of active travel schemes on businesses. We have seen the studies in numerous places, about how active travel schemes are good for businesses overall. This study undertaken in London is particularly well-cited, as well as the Pedestrian Pound. There are good reasons to support safer streets for walking and cycling. But we need to be honest about what the evidence does, and does not say. And what it does say is that the economic benefit is variable by area.

This new research article on the impact of COVID-19 road space reallocation in the US on businesses is a case in point. The benefit in terms of economic activity was…minimal. It is hard to disaggregate the impacts of wider economic changes on this research, but that is the same issue in all studies of economic impacts of schemes. This needs bearing in mind when proposing schemes. Just because the chances are that there will be benefits from such schemes, does not mean that those benefits will be realised by your scheme.

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.

• How Big Oil is manipulating the way you think about climate change (Salon)

• The challenges and promises of climate lawsuits (Ars Technica)

• All maps lie. These two maps from the Cold War demonstrate how (Big Think)

• From the archive: sunshine statistics, and the hues and habits of aquarium fish (Nature)

• Can Kolkata’s street life survive India’s record-breaking heatwaves? (1843 Magazine)

Something interesting

This video by Tom Scott reminds me a lot about how in Gibraltar, cars heading in and out of Gibralatar had to cross the main airport’s runway. Or maybe Gisbourne Airport in New Zealand, where a TRAIN crosses the runway. Planes – they get everywhere.

If you do nothing else today, then do this

Read this leaked copy of a memo from a Google employee of the current state of AI. Its partly terrifying (AI is WAY more advanced than you think it is), and partly reassuring (open source AI will win). Its worth reading.