Good day my good friend.
No time for the niceties today. There’s work to be done.
If you have any suggestions for interesting news items or bits of research to include in this newsletter, you can email me.
James
Flat Fares = Meh?
Recently, the UK Government announced that the voluntary flat £2 for single fares in England outside of London would continue until at least October. This is essentially extending the support for local bus services that really started at the start of COVID-19, giving the industry another stay of execution. Its all a bit kicking the can down the road, to be honest, as hard decisions on the future of buses are delayed. But how has the scheme benefited passengers, if at all?
Thankfully, the DfT published a report alongside the announcement that evaluates the impact of the scheme so far. Around 10% of bus users had taken more trips, with half of them saying that the fare cap was one of the main reasons that they took the additional trips. But uptake varied by region and urban / rural classification. Amazingly, people on incomes of £50,000 or more were more likely to take up the fare. So, the impact is mixed, maybe slightly positive. Who knows? Regardless, its continuing.
Mental Healthcare is Healthcare
When we assess the accessibility of healthcare, we typically look at two things: access to Doctors and access to Hospitals. I mean, in the UK, we literally post statistics on this. And accessing these facilities is important, there is no doubt about that. But they are just two aspects of healthcare. Just looking at the NHS website tells you that. Mental health is one of the biggest missing services, and accessibility to such services has a very real impact.
This report by the House of Commons’s Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs Select Committee shows this. And it makes for damning reading. Very simply, poor public transport in rural areas is leading to isolation from others, and accessing services very hard indeed. Yet, we seem not to care. I’m not sure if its purely down to the commercials of running services, or a case of the British stiff upper lip, or maybe both. Either way, this isn’t good enough.
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.
Is gentrification good for you? (City Monitor)
‘We Need to Engage People’: Scientists Arrested Demanding Climate Action (Common Dreams)
Designing out the most severe forms of hardship in local areas (Joseph Rowntree Foundation)
We regret to inform you Earth will not be destroyed by an asteroid within 1,000 years (The Register)
Pinball is booming in America, thanks to nostalgia and canny marketing (The Economist)
Something interesting
Musical train stations? Sounds like a party game to me. And a recipe for something slightly more musical, but equally as annoying, as “See It. Say It. Sorted.” But this video is still fun anyway.
If you do nothing else today, then do this
If you started digging straight down, through the Earth, and came out the other side, where would you end up? That point is called an Antipode, and this website shows where you would end up if you dug from the point where you are now. Its really quite cool. Apparently, I would appear somewhere in the ocean North East of Campbell Island.
Mobility Matters 