Strategy

Designing Tomorrow's Transport: The Vision-Led Planning Revolution

There is an increasing drive to move away from a ‘predict and provide’ approach to transport planning and instead move to a vision-led approach that works out what you want the world to look like and then sets about getting there. This guide provides resources to make the case for a vision-led approach and implement it.

Key Takeaways

• The vision-led approach starts with a collective ambition for how a place could look and feel.
• The approach considers how transport choices directly or indirectly influence the vision and develops interventions to achieve the right outcomes.
• Rather than a linear modelling approach, it is iterative and holistic, embracing flexibility and adapting to uncertainty.
• The approach doesn’t just consider the transport goals but also the economic, social and environmental goals.
• A good way of ensuring that the road option does not become the default approach is to define the circumstances in which roads may be constructed.
• There is a danger of greenwashing with the term ‘vision-led’ being used to describe a vision of bigger roads to reduce congestion.
• It requires an integrated approach to transport and land-use planning.
• The guide includes numerous examples of the approach to transport planning.
• Changes are also needed in governance, collaboration across different governments, road design, funding, and the knowledge and skills of practitioners to implement successfully.

What next?

How can you successfully implement a vision-led approach to transport?

Active Transport

Beyond infrastructure: How to get more people to walk and cycle

Almost every transport strategy emphasises increasing the mode share of walking and cycling, and infrastructure is essential to support this, but what else is effective? There has been a systematic review of the evidence.

Key Takeaways

• Physical environmental restructuring interventions, including cycleways and traffic calming infrastructure, led to the most significant increases in cycling duration.
• Educational and persuasion interventions involving individually tailored behavioural or intensive workplace programmes were most effective for increasing walking.
• Within school settings, bicycle bus/train interventions resulted in a 42% increase in bike riding to school.
• A walking school bus resulted in a 38% increase in overall active transport, but their sustainability as an intervention was limited, often relying on volunteer programs.
• Evidence for the impact of interventions on modal shift was lacking, limiting our understanding of how to shift people to active modes.
• While some research demonstrated promising impacts, these were almost always based on findings of a single study, and most had methodological limitations.
• The review did not consider the effect of combinations of interventions.
• There was insufficient evidence to support physical restructuring interventions, such as footpaths, to increase walking.
• There was increased walking participation from the construction of new public transport services.
• This review highlighted the need for a substantial overhaul in how we conduct and measure the impact of interventions on the shift to active transport.

What next?

If you are undertaking or funding research, are you looking to close the gaps in our knowledge around modal shift? Would you benefit from increasing the interventions that are proven to work?

Strategic Planning

San Diego's Mobility Roadmap: Promising Steps and Potential Pitfalls

San Diego is California’s second biggest city and the eighth most populous in the United States. It has just released its ‘Mobility Master Plan’.

Key Takeaways

• The plan has 10 goals around safety, equity, the pedestrian network, micromobility, public transport, coordination, best practices, technology, curb and demand management.
• The plan contains five outcomes around objectives, mobility programs, projects, processes and implementation.
• Mobility challenges are identified as safety, population growth and housing, climate change and resiliency, equity, affordability and inter-agency coordination.
• The plan identifies several mobility trends:

1. Design safe infrastructure for vulnerable modes of transportation.
2. Encourage the use of sustainable modes of travel.
3. Create and enhance mobility hubs.
4. Promote advancements in transport systems management.

• Safety programs include: Slow streets, Curbside Management, Urban Connectivity (using data).
• Sustainability: Neighbourhood shuttles, e-bike rebate, MaaS and Micromobility.
• Targets include:

1. 25% walking and 10% cycling mode share of all San Diego residents’ trips by 2035.
2. Achieve a 6% citywide Vehicle Miles Travelled (VMT) reduction through telecommuting by 2035.
3. 15% VMT (commuter and non-commuter) reduction per capita by 2035.

• Achieving equity through transport fare subsidies.
• Public priorities are active transport infrastructure improvements and more frequent transit services. Reduced fares and micromobility were much lower priorities.
• Many of the proposed projects are for cycling and pedestrian infrastructure.
• Community parking districts (CPD) are already established. These are entities established by the City Council to manage parking within a defined area. These districts provide a mechanism for communities to develop and implement strategies tailored to their specific parking needs and challenges. Parking meter revenue collected within a CPD is reinvested back into the district to fund neighbourhood improvements.

Comment

The plan focuses on its infrastructure investments in cycling and walking and sets clear targets for these. I also really like the CPDs, and they could benefit many jurisdictions.

However, it is in combining public transit and equity where I would question the plan. The city has a car dependency problem with only 6% of households not owning a car, and public priority for more frequent public transit services. However, this is not the focus of the plan. It is focused on providing lower fares, which will have to be paid for at the expense of better services. Owning a car is a significant strain on low-income finances, and it may be more equitable to enable them to give up a car by providing better public transport services. Even if they have to pay higher fares, they would still be significantly better off financially without a car.

What next?

Does your area have the same focus on active transport infrastructure? Do you understand the trade-offs you are making between fares, services, car dependency and equity?

Leadership

Safety Culture Checkup: 10 Warning Signs

A robust safety culture is a critical aspect of any transport organisation. Does your organisation have a fully embedded safety culture? Here are 10 warning signs:

1. Lack of Leadership Buy-In

When executives and managers do not consistently demonstrate or support safety initiatives, employees perceive safety as a low priority, undermining the culture.

2. Poor Communication Across Departments

If safety information, concerns, and updates are not openly shared between teams, misunderstandings and inconsistent practices can weaken safety efforts.

3. Employees Are Not Engaged in Safety

A disengaged workforce, where staff rarely discuss or participate in safety activities, signals that safety is seen as irrelevant or unimportant to daily operations.

4. High Incident and Near-Miss Rates

Frequent incidents or near-misses indicate that safety practices are not effectively embedded.

5. Negative or Dismissive Employee Feedback

Consistent complaints or negative feedback about safety policies suggest that staff feel their concerns are ignored or that management is not responsive to safety issues.

6. Double Standards for Safety Rules

When leaders or specific teams are exempt from safety rules that others must follow, it erodes trust and signals that safety is not truly valued.

7. Complacency and Lack of Vigilance

If staff are not watchful, take shortcuts, or compromise on safety to save time or effort, it shows that safety is not ingrained as a core value.

8. Underreporting of Incidents and Near Misses

A culture where employees are reluctant to report hazards, incidents, or near misses prevents learning and improvement.

9. Safety Policies Are Not Clearly Communicated or Understood

If employees are unaware of or confused by safety procedures and expectations, it indicates that safety communication is insufficient.

10. Safety Is Not Prioritised Over Productivity

Safety culture is not fully embedded when operational or financial goals consistently override safety considerations in decision-making.

What Next?

Does your organisation score highly on all 10?

Quick Links

Interesting articles and papers I have come across this week:

• How does proximity affect the modes people use to shop? This research found that it depends on the type of shops. For groceries and prepared meals, it increased the likelihood of walking, but for clothing, it did not.
• How much does pollution from motor vehicles affect health? This research found it to be substantial, with reductions in pollution reducing sick leave and long-term health conditions.
• What do you do when public transport subsidies are being reduced? I have previously blogged about the problems of over-reliance on subsidies and what to do about it. This article looks at the reckoning US transit agencies are now facing.

Blog

The Ten Transport Questions Decision Makers Must Ask to Prevent Multi-Billion Dollar Mistakes

My blog this week looked at how we help decision makers to make better transport choices. I proposed ten questions they should ask of any initiative.

Innovation

What is the future of ferries?

In Sweden, there is now an electric hydrofoil ferry.

Tool

How should we plan bus services for new residential developments?

​Here is a helpful guide.