Good day my good friend.

Back in the saddle today, after handing John Paddington the reigns for the last couple of Fridays (go read his article on what he learned from the Transport Technology Forum conference, if you have not already). Just the 4 days this week before a week of specials next week as I move house. Lets get to it!

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

James

The old stuff is still valuable

This recent post by the excellent RMTransit about the walk along the Regent’s Canal in London got me thinking about old transport infrastructure. Much of our infrastructure is old. Here in the UK, we still use roads first laid down by the Romans and trek along routes there were old when Emperor Claudius sent his forces across the English Channel. Not to mention our railways. But what is common is how, over time, the value of this infrastructure has changed.

In our assessments of the value of transport infrastructure, we make assumptions about their continued use and role over a 60 year time period. Necessary for assessing infrastructure investments, arguably. But we need not be bound by this path. Transport infrastructure can become valuable in ways that we cannot conceive at the moment – I doubt that James Morgan, when designing the Regents Canal, had it being a quiet walking route in mind. We are a very adaptable species, after all.

We are what we measure

Transport is really, really bad at understanding the injustices that it helps perpetrate. There are many reasons for this, but part of the reason is because of the data that is collected. Or not. Whilst data collection like the National Travel Survey goes a long way, there are still many data gaps that need filling. And if data fuels decisions, the fuel we have is tainted.

This article in Mobilities articulates the problem well. While I feel we should just get on and plug these gaps. Especially when it concludes with this zinger:

In short, mobility data justice provides a multi-scalar, interdisciplinary approach for examining entanglements of mobility and data with a social justice perspective. Based on this definition and the broader considerations in this article, we propose a focus on distributive, procedural, and epistemic elements of mobility data justice, that also indicate initial thoughts on how the framework could be operationalized.

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.

• No A/C? No problem, if buildings copy networked tunnels of termite mounds (Ars Technica)

• Indian official suspended for draining dam to retrieve smartphone (Al Jazeera)

• How Asian-Pacific Islanders Shaped Environmental Activism (Atmos)

• Want to move to Japan? Government mulls over introducing digital nomad visa (The Straits Times)

• More Money Will Flow Into Solar Than Oil For The First Time (OilPrice)

Something interesting

Better mental health and the joy of riding trains. Sometimes, it is worthwhile taking a trip just to clear your head and for the sheer enjoyment of it. Thank you for making this video, Geoff.

If you do nothing else today, then do this

The latest addition to the Premier League, Luton Town, have a rather unique stadium. Much has been made of the entrance to the Oak Road Stand at Kenilworth Road, but did you know its the only football stadium in the UK to be served by a Guided Busway? Take the Busway to Clifton Road, and go and see ‘the Kenny’ for yourself.