Autonomous Vehicles

Robotaxis and Transit: A Partnership or a Trojan Horse?

I have written about my concerns that robotaxis will compete with public transport, not private cars, ultimately making our transport systems worse. However, I have also discussed the potential for robotaxis to provide a good first and last mile connection to public transport. This paper reviewed the results of a trial scheme to incentivise these types of connections.

Key Takeaways

• The study evaluates the effectiveness of a pilot transit credit program, launched by Waymo, which offered riders a $3 incentive to use an AV rideshare service in conjunction with nearby public transit stations.
• A total of 74 complete responses were obtained, with 16 valid respondents confirming participation in the credit program.
• Results indicate that 69% of participants connected to transit.
• 50% of riders would have used privately paid rideshare, 6% would have used their private vehicle, and another 6% would have walked or cycled.
• The remaining 38% of participants would have used transit to reach the public transit station.
• Across the broader population, nearly 80% indicated they would have used the program if it were available to them.
• AV services connecting to transit may hold particular value for middle-income, transit-supportive individuals who already engage in multimodal travel.

Comment

A significant proportion of rideshare users would have previously taken public transport. The results of this incentive program are not encouraging: over a third of participants came from public transport to take up the offer, far more than those who switched from private vehicles (6%).

As AVs roll out, a key challenge is to harness their benefits, such as improved safety, without suffering the downsides, such as undermining public transport and worsening congestion. I have written about how I think this should be done here.

What Next?

Do you have a plan to get the most out of AVs whilst avoiding the downsides?

Infrastructure

From the Archive: Think Strategy, Not Projects: Lessons from France's Infrastructure Playbook

One common theme in the newsletter has been the cost of building infrastructure. Earlier in the year, I examined how France was using its capacity and capability built for one set of projects to deploy them to another.

Key Takeaways

• This blog outlines France's approach to regional rail connectivity.
  • France is building 24, what it calls ‘Services Express Régionaux Métropolitains (SERM)’ in regional cities.
  • The idea is to connect towns outside major cities directly with the city centres.
  • Because SERMs connect a low-density town or suburb to the city centre, connectivity to the station is key. So micromobility, bike sharing, carpooling and bike lanes are all part of the SERM projects (joined-up thinking).
  • The French government has made the Government-Owned Company, responsible for building the 200km Grand Paris Express, the Société du Grand Paris (now renamed the Société des Grands Projets), responsible for delivering the SERMs.
  • The Société des Grands Projets will leverage institutional knowledge in tunnelling and infrastructure to deliver the projects quickly and cheaply.

Comment

Whilst many Anglo-Saxon countries struggle with very high costs for building infrastructure, a number of jurisdictions have much lower costs. France is one of them. A key reason for that is the capability it is building and deploying. Whilst Anglo-Saxon countries tend to think project-to-project, other jurisdictions are implementing a strategy of many projects. They then build capacity and capability for the entire strategy, rather than re-creating it for each project, generating significant efficiencies.

What Next?

Can you move away from project-to-project thinking and move towards building out strategies to invest in the long-term capacity and capability to deliver cost efficiently and effectively?

Strategic Planning

From the Archive: Ambition and Accountability in Singapore

At the beginning of the year, I looked at Singapore's Land Transport Master Plan.

Key Takeaways

• Here is what Singapore is looking to achieve:
  • A 45-Minute City with 20-Minute Towns in 2040.
  • All journeys to the nearest neighbourhood centre using Walk-Cycle-Ride modes of transport will take less than 20 minutes.
  • 9 in 10 peak-period journeys using Walk-Cycle-Ride are to be completed in less than 45 minutes.
  • By 2030, 80% of households would be within a 10-minute walk from a train station.
  • Currently, Singapore ranks around 15th in the world, with 55% of the population within 1km of a station. Hong Kong is at the top with 75%.
  • To achieve this, Singapore will have doubled its new rail lines from 182km in 2013 to 360km in 2030.

Comment

Every jurisdiction has a different context, so what qualifies as ambitious must vary. Most places are nowhere near as dense as Singapore, and cannot hope to replicate its ambition for access to a train station. However, most cities should be able to set their own ambitious targets, whether for bus access, active transport, or something else.

In hindsight, having read many other strategic plans from around the world, as well as the ambition, another thing that stands out in Singapore's plan is the specificity of its objectives.

The Singapore government is specific about what success looks like. Far too many places strategic plans are vague and amount to nothing more than virtue signalling. This enables them to avoid accountability for delivery. The result: strategic plans that are never implemented.

What Next?

What are the ambitious and specific targets you should be setting for your jurisdiction?

Quick Adventures in Transport Wonderland

Here is what else I came across this week:

• ​When Innovation Feels Risky: On AVs and Transit Agencies​
• ​E-Bike Injuries Are Up 1,800%, But It's Not Actually E-Bikes: It's Electric Motorcycles​
• ​Investing in Livable Streets​

Blog

Getting Car Share Policy Right: Lessons from Zipcar's UK Departure

This week, in my blog, I discussed the mistakes in car share policy and what we need to do instead.

Podcast

Congestion: Can We Build Our Way Out Of It?

This week on the Transport Leaders podcast, we discussed all things congestion.

You can watch it here or listen here.