Mobility Matters Daily #169 - Leisure trips, urban air mobility, and cable cars

Plus my love of railway architecture

Good day my good friend.

Here are today’s links curated especially for you. Hey, come on, I can’t think of a witty introduction every day, you know.

James

Mobility Matters is changing. The free newsletter will remain, but you will be able to get more through a paid subscription. Find out more about the plans here.

---

Access to recreation and leisure is more important than we plan for

A new research paper by Wang et al identifies a slight variation on the accessibility methodology for measuring access to parks in urban areas. This is an interesting technical paper (particularly if the details of how to measure accessibility interest you), but looking more generally, I’m always amazed about how we don’t transport plan for leisure.

Data from the National Travel Survey shows that leisure trips are the most common trips that the average resident of England takes. Yet apart from a few historical research studies (like this one by Jillian Anable), values of time in TAG, and leisure destination surveys, they are not often considered in transport decision making. Perhaps they are inherently difficult to plan for?

Urban air mobility - how ready is your city?

The journal Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies has published a few good articles on urban air mobility in recent editions. A summary article by Garrow et al gives a good overview of the current research into urban air mobility (TLDR: its all about the tech). But an assessment of 40 US cities by Haan et al for their readiness for commuter air taxis peaked my interest.

My experience of such assessments previously are that they have been…decidedly unscientific. But this research uses mobile phone data and stated preference surveys to indicate where routes could operate in a number of US cities. For instance, here are some potential routes in the aviation metropolis of Atlanta, Georgia. The paper is worth a read.

Potential commuter air taxi routes in Atlanta, Georgia (Source: Haan et al)

Cable cars - not only for the mountains

Mention cable cars to a Brit, and one of three things comes to mind - the Alps, the Scottish Highlands, and that carbuncle linking the O2 and the Royal Victoria Dock in London. But a report by the World Bank shows that they are not without merit, and can be a useful addition to the public transport network of the city. For what it’s worth, every transport planner really should review the case study of the Metrocable in Medellin. It goes to show that the transport impacts of transport are not the only thing that is important.

Random things

Some random links that you may be interested in:

• Tiger in the Tank - the story of the first female Secretary of State for Transport (En Avant!)

• Equitable streets start with parking reform (ITDP)

• LA Metro hit with PETA lawsuit (California News Times)

• California seeks to make its low carbon living more affordable (Grist)

• Metro city Moscow: The megacity that won’t slow down (City Monitor)

Something interesting

Seeing a public transport system at work is always compelling. This one shows the public transport network of Athens working over the weekend.

If you do nothing else today, do this…

Read this article on Microsoft’s experience with carbon offsetting.

And finally

One thing I have missed about not travelling over the last 18 months is the stunning transport architecture of the UK. Yesterday, King’s Cross station in London reminded me of that. Just take a look. That’s not a station. It’s a cathedral for trains¹.

1. Also, while I like the Azuma (the train on the right), I LOVE the sight of a Class 91 pulling some Mark 4 coaches :) (the train on the left).