Climbing Mount Transport Reform: Supporting Political Leaders to Become Bold Transport Reformers
This blog is based on a seminar I gave at the Institute of Transport and Logistics at the University of Sydney earlier this week.
Key Takeaways
- Transport systems must climb significant reform mountains, such as increasing congestion, climate change and technological transformation.
- Although there are exceptions, many of our transport political leaders lack understanding of transport policy and reform experience and are risk-averse.
- However, bold transport reformers do not have to be born; they can be made.
- In recent times, reform has become more difficult due to a changing media landscape, the ease of access to politicians and public expectations.
- We need to upgrade the people who can support our transport political leaders to undertake reforms - political advisors, the public service and experts.
- All transport political leaders should have access to a highly experienced transport expert who can advise them on both policy and the politics of transport reform.
- Transport agencies need to rebuild their strategic policy-making capabilities and focus on the right policy and how they can better support political leaders engaging with stakeholders.
- Transport experts need to understand political risk and change their communications to engage with the public better.
- By upgrading the support we provide to transport political leaders, we increase the chances of them becoming bold reformers and transforming our transport systems.
- We should start by developing practical guides and training for political leaders and appointing experienced transport experts to advise them.
What next?
What can you do to make it easier for transport political leaders to become bold reformers?
Introduction - The Mountains We Face
Transport policy today faces unprecedented challenges that require bold reform. The reform mountains our political leaders need to climb are steep and daunting:
- Increasing congestion that strangles our cities and economies
- Climate change demanding rapid decarbonisation of transport and investments in resilience.
- Technological transformation, such as autonomous vehicles, drones and teleworking.
- Excessive infrastructure costs straining public budgets
- Overreliance on public transport subsidies prevents service growth.
These aren't small hills; they're formidable mountains requiring skilled climbers. But are our political leaders equipped for the ascent?
Our Political Mountaineers: Who's Climbing?
It would be great if all of our political mountaineers were the equivalent of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
And, just like in mountaineering, some political leaders are highly skilled, experienced, and motivated to tackle transport reform. We can point to successful examples in jurisdictions around the world.
But let's be honest, most political mountaineers aren't prepared for this climb.
The typical political leader approaching transport policy has a distinct profile:
- Interested in reform, but not specifically in transport
- Limited understanding of transport policy fundamentals
- Usually defaults to "build more roads" as the solution
- Often risk-averse when it comes to taking on reforms
- Inexperienced in undertaking complex reforms
- Sees transport as a stepping stone to higher political positions
- Genuinely wants to do the right thing.
Competency/Risk Lens
We can segment our political leaders based on their competency to undertake reforms and their attitude to reform risk.
First of all, we have our Dangerous Gamblers. These are our political mountaineers who attempt to climb a mountain without proper training or support. At best, they will fail to reach the reform top and live to fight another day, hopefully learning from their experience. At worst, they will never be seen or heard of again, and the next political leader will be even more cautious before taking on that particular reform mountain.
Next, we have our Status Quo Defenders. These are our political mountaineers who do not even attempt to climb the reform mountain and lack the necessary competency to do so. These political mountaineers are keeping the base camp fires lit for future mountaineers.
Our third category is our Steady Managers. These are highly capable political mountaineers who are happy to tackle smaller reform hills, but are reluctant to take on the equivalent of Everest.
Our final category is our Bold Reformers. These are highly capable political mountaineers who want to take on the equivalent of Everest. These are the ones who transform transport systems in their jurisdictions.
The key question for transport leaders is whether we must keep our fingers crossed and hope that our next transport political leader will be a bold reformer, or if we can do more to shape our destiny.
It is true that sometimes, bold reformers are born. However, it is also true that sometimes they are made, and the good news is that we can help those who are not natural bold reformers to become one.
Now, let’s look at the conditions on Mount Transport Reform.
The Modern Political Climate: Treacherous Headwinds
Unfortunately, the conditions on Mount Transport Reform are not propitious; that is, they are not favourable. The climb has grown significantly more difficult in recent years due to:
- Social media and 24-hour news cycles amplifying criticism and reducing time for thoughtful policy development
- Decline of specialised policy journalism limiting quality public discourse and key influencers for good public policy.
- Easy access to politicians by the public has made politics more prone to short-term fads.
- Growing distrust of experts in public discourse
- Rising public expectations of what governments should do and can achieve
- Increasing complexity of reforms. For example, transitioning to Net Zero involves changing a complex system in multiple ways.
All this means is that to get our political mountaineers ready to climb the heights of mount transport reform, they will need a great support team. So let us now consider that team.
The Support Team: The Trainers
Our political mountaineers need good trainers to prepare them for the mountain. These are their political advisors. On a good day, they are invaluable in explaining transport policy and managing reform politics. Unfortunately, they often:
- Have limited reform experience
- Vary greatly in their capabilities
- Lack understanding of transport fundamentals
- Have varied commitment to meaningful reform
In short, to climb the highest peaks, we will need better trainers.
What's needed: Every transport minister should have access to a highly experienced transport policy expert. Their role should be to advise on sound transport policies and strategies to make the politics work.
The political element is crucial, which means that a public servant cannot carry out this role.
This is not a brand-new idea. For example, London's Walking and Cycling Commissioner advises the Mayor and champions walking and cycling. Similarly, other reform mountains have been climbed with the assistance of external advisors employed as trainers, such as the HECS student loan system in Australia.
Of course, good mountaineers do not just have good trainers; they also need good Sherpas.
The Public Service: Sherpas Carrying the Load
At their best, public servants act as guides and do much of the heavy lifting in policy development. However, many transport agencies have:
- Become divided on key issues like induced demand
- Seen leadership become increasingly politicised and short-term
- Experienced capacity decline
- Archaic systems and tools
- Developed a tendency toward only advising on technocracy
- Become reluctant to provide frank and fearless advice
- Lost strategic policy-making capabilities
- Adopted reactive rather than proactive approaches to policy
This last issue is particularly problematic. Given that most of our political mountaineers have limited experience with transport policy, if a transport agency does not proactively explain policy issues, such as induced demand, they will default to what they know: building more roads.
What's needed: The public service needs systemic renewal with meritocratically appointed leadership, enhanced strategic policymaking skills, modernised tools, and a fundamental mindset shift toward identifying optimal policies and, critically, making good suggestions on bringing stakeholders along.
Another support group is available to our transport mountaineers: transport experts.
The Masters of Terrain: Transport Experts
Transport experts are often like modern-day Cassandra’s; destined to speak the truth, but not to be believed, e.g. adding another lane to that road will increase congestion.
Experts possess extensive knowledge about various aspects of the mountain terrain to be climbed. They can help identify pitfalls and hazards that our political leaders may experience on the climb and how they can be navigated.
However, experts struggle in several areas:
- Do not understand political risk
- Poor at targeting communications, often only talking to the choir.
- Using jargon that outsiders cannot understand, e.g. Active Transport, Mobility, Vertical Transport, Induced Demand, Motonormativity, etc.
- Condescending to non-experts
- Not trusted by the public or decision-makers
What's needed: Experts need to use plain English, understand political risk and how to reduce it, reach beyond natural allies, find messengers who resonate with wider audiences (e.g. James May, a well-known petrolhead who has championed cycling in London) and develop support materials (such as training and key questions to ask) for new transport ministers and other political leaders (and opposition members).
Transport experts can also play a vital role in educating the public in important transport concepts, such as induced demand.
Charting a Path Forward
Better support for our political mountaineers will not guarantee success, but it will dramatically improve the chances of meaningful transport reform. We may need to start with "large hills" rather than full-blown mountains.
We can progress by advancing easier-to-implement changes:
- Developing practical guides and training for political leaders
- Appointing dedicated transport policy advisors for ministers
- Educating the public on important transport concepts like induced demand
- Changing our language to be more accessible and persuasive
There are successful political reformers who demonstrate what's possible. Rather than waiting for superhero mountaineers to emerge, let's help the leaders we have become the bold reformers we need.