Mobility Matters Daily #166
Good day my good friend.
In case you had not already seen it, there are some big changes ahead for Mobility Matters. You will receive the same daily newsletter of course, but if you want a bit of extra insight, there is now something for you. See yesterday’s post for more details.
Let’s get to today’s links, shall we?
James
Tuk-tuks in Stockholm, but with tech
Micro-mobility, mini-mobility, new mobility - just how many mobilities are there to describe this new era of transport services? Anyway, a study by William Riggs and Shivani Shukla has just been published that looks at what is basically tuk-tuks being offered through a technology platform in Central Stockholm, and their impact during the pandemic.
The service, called Bzzt, saw an increase in use during the COVID-19 pandemic. But their models suggest that this had a minimal impact on carbon emissions. Probably due to the fact that most trips were within the core of the city. Their key conclusion? That such services could be good for increasing mobility among vulnerable groups.
How to solve a challenging problem like HGV drivers
Unless you don’t live in the UK (or if you do and you have had your head in the sand), its having a big problem with HGV driver shortages. So much so that, when it was reported that two BP petrol stations had to close due to supply issues, it has caused panic buying and now petrol stations have run dry everywhere. The government has responded by allowing petrol companies to work together to deliver fuel (good), is granting temporary visas to foreign drivers (mostly good), and has extended driver working hours (insanely bad).
Its tempting to get into the politics of this, but this is a problem a long time coming, with an estimated shortage of between 75,000 and 100,000 drivers. The best exploration of the issues can be found in The Grocer, IGD (from earlier in the crisis), and Transport Intelligence for the wider market view (summary: driver shortages are happening all over Europe). But as The Grocer states, it isn’t all about Brexit.
Why funding transport through land value uplift is hard
A recent research paper by Cruz et al1 did a good analysis of the relationship between the real estate market and transport investment in Portugal from 2000 to 2018. Their conclusion was that investing in roads has a highly variable impact on real estate values in different regions. So much so, that it was this only this variation they could conclude on.
Whilst there have been projects like Crossrail that are successfully utilising land value uplift to part finance transport infrastructure investment, its by no means a panacea. Simply, the impacts of scheme varies, and the results are by no means certain. I’m by no means an expert, so I suggest if you want to know more review the work of Newman et al, Shearer et al, and Lee and Locke.
Something interesting
Visual Capitalist has done it again. This time with a map showing the fastest growing cities in the world. I’d hate to be a transprot planner in those cities.
If you do nothing else today, do this
My good friend Jenny Milne is running an online gathering on Thursday on rural transport. You should attend.
The abstract is free, but you may need to pay to access the article.