I recently made the “mistake” of preparing a response to a Parliamentary Select Committee.  That it was a mistake became apparent when I was invited to appear at the House of Commons to give evidence; for a first-timer it turned out to be an unexpectedly nerve-wracking experience. It’s possible that the more outspoken your written reps are, the more likely the committee is to want to talk with you.  So if you actually want a trip to the Mother of Parliaments, don’t pull your punches.  A straight polemic is unlikely to win you any plaudits but an even-handed, well-evidenced critique that...

This week heralds the opening of the call for nominations for the 2014 Urban Transport Design Award (UTDA). Whilst the seven objectives of “By Design” may no longer form part of the formal planning framework, they are still relevant principles for good urban design, and feature strongly in the judging criteria for this award. It recognises good-looking, functional schemes that work for all users. Whilst not always perfect, successful schemes are invariably interesting, innovative, effective and attractive in some measure.  All three of the schemes shortlisted for last year’s UTDA –...

“With the arrival of a new set of acronyms, LEPs, SEPs and LTBs, the transport planning map has been re-drawn, and the route to transport funding re-formulated. The new geographies of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) are a significant feature of this changing landscape, and whilst some relate neatly to longstanding partnership areas and PTEs, many are entirely new entities. Against a back drop of challenging timescales imposed by Central Government, Local Transport Boards (LTBs) were charged with prioritising a number of major transport schemes. These were to be ‘shovel ready’, with...

Providing high quality public transport has long been seen as a pro-active means of addressing challenges for European cities such as traffic congestion costs, traffic in cities, pollution-related deaths, rising costs of fuel and our unsustainable dependence on cars. However, Public Transport service planners and operators face a range of practical, financial, operational and social challenges in developing services. This course will focus on existing short range public transport planning practice and methods for improving it. This two-day course is a practical guide to operations...

Last week, Campaign for Better Transport sent a clear message to the Chancellor George Osborne that serious action needs to be taken to halt the decline of our bus services across the country. In a letter signed by a broad coalition of 29 different charities, trade unions and groups including the National Federation of Women’s Institutes, the NUS and Age UK, we called on the Chancellor to step in to avert what is proving to be a crisis. 2014 is set to be the worst year yet for cuts to bus services, with local authorities being forced into making agonising decisions about their...

Atkins, the UK’s largest design, engineering and project management consultancy, is seeking 15 apprentices to work on a range of exciting projects in its Highways & Transportation business ranging from nationally significant infrastructure projects such as HS2 and Smart Motorways, through to locally important schemes including the West Midlands Highways Alliance Framework. The new apprenticeship placements will be based at the company’s offices across the UK, including Birmingham, Epsom, Swansea and Warrington. Successful applicants will be working towards a professional qualification...

Streets in urban areas serve many different functions, and implementing the most appropriate solutions in allocating and managing road-side space is often a complex balancing act. Parking provision, management and enforcement is a key concern to industry professionals and the general public alike and is often a controversial and highly newsworthy subject. Communities Secretary, Eric Pickles, has recently stated that he want wants parking enforcement regimes focused on ‘supporting high streets and motorists, not raising money.’ National press coverage often aligns with this view and...

Local authorities offered free sustainable mobility training Local authorities in Wales and England are being invited to sign up to a series of free training sessions on sustainable urban mobility. Starting in April, these training sessions are aimed at transport planning officers and any local authority staff and Councillors whose work involves or affects travel modes in their locality. The training sessions are being delivered by Sustrans Cymru, PTRC which is part of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, and the University of the West of England. The most...

Five years ago, I stumbled across PTRC in the run up to the Seventh Annual Transport Practitioners Meeting at Reading. One of my colleagues, a Smarter Travel practitioner, was involved with the TPM Committee, assisting with the shortlisting of papers and chairing a number of sessions at the conference. In order to take full advantage of the “2-4-1” Local Authority rates offered, and get the most out of the numerous relevant topics, our team attended the conference en-mass. The planning of session logistics, to cover as wide aspread of topics as possible and avoid doubled-up attendance at...

Robert Goodwill, wants Britain’s streets to be filled with 'basket-on-the-handlebars' cyclists. Our video shows why those less gung-ho riders remain a minority  It is a creditable ambition: the (relatively) new minister for cycling, Robert Goodwill, wants Britain’s streets to be filled with “basket-on-the-handlebars” cyclists, people in everyday clothes pedaling at moderate speeds, in contrast to the knee-pumping, dayglo-clad types more common in some cities. Goodwill, who can himself sometimes be seen riding round Westminster on his Brompton folding bike, wearing a suit and...