Strategic Planning

The Million-Home Opportunity: Leveraging Station-Adjacent Land

Anyone who knows me knows I am a passionate believer in integrating transport and land use to deliver great outcomes. I am also frustrated that after six years of being open, my local station has a large bit of government land next to it that has still not been developed.

Therefore, I was interested to come across this paper from the Railway Industry Association (RIA) from the UK, setting out a place-based approach for delivering better stations across the nations and regions of the UK called “Stations: Engines of Communities”.

Key Takeaways

• There is an opportunity to redefine the role of the more than 2500 stations across the country and unlock their potential to drive local economic development and connectivity.
• Over 1 million homes could be built around England’s rural stations with only a 1% decrease in the green belt, helping to tackle the housing crisis.
• Smaller and medium-sized stations should be invested in as a portfolio, using economies of scale to significantly lower costs.
• Harness the full range of funding sources to help pay for station improvements, e.g. retail, advertising, car parking, energy generation, and land value capture.
• Use private investment models and commercial expertise to bring together and maximise different revenue sources.
• Work in partnership with local authorities to use stations to support housing development and vice versa, for housing development to support station upgrades.
• Establish this new approach as a repeatable programme with a high-level pipeline and timescale: this will deliver an attractive investment opportunity.

Although this is a discussion paper and the ideas are undergoing further testing and consultation, it is based on an extensive literature review and successful investment structures from around the world.

What Next?

Do you have stations with potential similar to those in the UK? Are you developing a model to bring them to market?

Micromobility

Micromobility's Missing Pieces: Unlocking the True Potential

There is much discussion on the potential of micromobility, but few jurisdictions fulfil that potential. A recent podcast and report from Canada have provided insights into how we can better manage micromobility to reach its potential.

Key Takeaways

• Micromobility, including e-bikes and e-scooters, has not yet achieved its transformative potential in urban mobility due to operational and infrastructure challenges.
• Safety concerns deter many people from using micromobility options, highlighting the need for improved infrastructure to protect users and encourage adoption.
• Some municipalities permit operators to operate micromobility fleets in public rights-of-way, with varying degrees of regulation to address strategic goals, specific needs, or public concerns.
• Other municipalities offer public investment in equipment and maintain more control over service management and delivery.
• For many municipalities, an open or managed delivery model is an attractive way to limit risk and cost; in contrast, services delivered with public backing tend to have lower user fees and greater stability.
• Municipalities that have invested in docked services benefit from more organised parking management that maintains order and accessibility in the public realm.
• Municipalities should prioritise public good over making money by investing in infrastructure and advocacy for micromobility rather than treating it as a revenue-generating opportunity.
• Micromobility should be integrated with existing public transport systems to complement rather than compete with them, ensuring seamless access to various transport modes.
• Municipalities with fewer parking zones and more restrictive policies have experienced lower ridership.
• Transport dead spots in outer urban areas remain a significant issue, as most investments are concentrated in city centres, leaving underserved areas without effective mobility solutions.

What next?

How effective is your micromobility strategy? Are your regulations and charges making micromobility less effective in your jurisdiction?

Sustainability

The EV Blind Spot: A Broader Vision for Sustainable Transport

Reducing passenger car emissions is easy, right? All we need to do is move the fleet over to Electric Vehicles (EVs), and the job is done. In this thought leadership piece from last year, Professor David Hensher from the University of Sydney challenges that thinking.

Key Takeaways

• Focusing too much on reducing tailpipe emissions from passenger vehicles through electrification may be at the expense of a more comprehensive understanding of sustainability.
• We need to avoid neglecting indirect emission impacts, including vehicle production, battery manufacturing, and energy generation.
• We need to avoid a situation where cleaning up the energy source encourages even greater use of cars.
• The agendas of many governments are narrowly based on an almost emotional commitment (and unconscious bias) to ensure that the car remains king.
• With the increased production of biofuels, Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles (ICEVs) could become more competitive with EVs.
• We should not discount renewable diesel, which could reduce CO2 emissions by 90% compared to diesel from fossil fuels without needing to replace or modify vehicles or the distribution network.
• The economics of fuel sources will eventually play a crucial role in any transition. If electricity becomes even more expensive, biofuels could become increasingly attractive as an alternative.
• We should not rule out hydrogen as a way forward; Toyota is developing a hydrogen internal combustion engine that does not need fuel cells and uses hydrogen instead of petrol.
• Combining autonomous, ride-share, and car-share could increase the efficiency of car use, reduce the number of cars and provide an improved sustainability outcome, but it might come at the expense of public transport.
• We need better data to provide better analyses to governments on a larger set of sustainability goals.

Comment

At a time when governments are rethinking their approach to transitioning to EVs, this piece reminds us that there needs to be a much broader agenda for sustainability in transport, and we should not just back one horse.

What next?

Is your transport sustainability strategy overly focused on just reducing tailpipe emissions? Do you have the capacity to analyse the sustainability impacts of different scenarios to inform policymakers?

Demand Management

Seattle's Transportation Demand Management Plan: Bold Vision, Missing Levers?

Seattle is America’s 18th largest city. Between 2010 and 2017, for trips to downtown, it made impressive progress, with automobile mode share declining from 50 to 25 per cent. So when it recently released its Transportation Demand Management (TDM Programs) 5-Year Strategic Plan, I was keen to see what it said.

Key Takeaways

• Vision: Seattle’s expanded TDM programs will encourage non-drive-alone travel choices for all trips and support Seattle’s progress towards the goal of 9 of 10 personal trips being zero-emission by 2030.
• There are 14 strategies and 44 actions slated for the next five years:

1. Evolve the Seattle Department of Transport (SDOT) TDM staff and resources to serve expanded programs and audiences.
2. Continue to integrate and leverage broader work within SDOT
3. Continue to collaborate with regional partners to strengthen Commute Trip Reduction (CTR)
4. Develop relationships with local communities to identify opportunities to facilitate mode shift.
5. Collaborate with local and regional partners to enable small businesses to access transportation options support.
6. Develop a broad TDM communications brand.
7. Develop tailored transportation options and resources for new and expanded audiences.
8. Develop standardised resources for TMP implementers
9. Promote awareness and use of tax benefits for improving CTR among smaller businesses.
10. Develop TDM efforts in schools.
11. Strengthen TMP programs and clarify enforcement and applicability.
12. Identify funding sources and opportunities to encourage the adoption of new and shared mobility.
13. Encourage new residents to explore their mobility options by creating a New Movers program.
14. Encourage and expand the use of transit among visitors.

Comment

I was interested to see what Seattle proposed in its TDM plan to continue to move the needle on mode shift. The plan tends to focus on process and more of the same, only bigger. I suspect this is partly because of the good progress they have made in the past. However, it remains to be seen whether they have picked all the low-hanging fruit and now have a much more challenging task, and it remains to be seen whether this plan will be sufficient to help them achieve their ambitious goals.

What Next?

Do you have a comprehensive TDM strategy? Does it include actions that will significantly help you to achieve your objectives?

Blog

Are we our own worst enemy when advocating for better transport policy?

My blog this week asked whether our communications as transport policy professionals are holding us back.

Key Takeaways

How we advocate with the public for better transport policy is ineffective in five ways:

• Not targeting communications at those we need to persuade.
• Using language that outsiders cannot understand.
• Using language that alienates those we need to persuade.
• Talking down to those we need to persuade.
• Messengers who are not trusted by those we need to persuade.
• To achieve better policies, our communications must focus on the right-of-centre voters we need to persuade, not the already convinced left-of-centre voters.

Improving our advocacy requires a re-think, including:

• Diversifying our messengers.
• Adopting language that bridges rather than divides.
• Developing Communication Channels That Reach New Audiences.
• Training Advocates in Effective Cross-Partisan Communication
• Persuading more people will be much more effective at creating a bipartisan approach to transport policy than continuing to preach to the converted, creating space for political leaders to make the changes our transport systems need.

What next?

Undertake an audit of your transport advocacy communications - who are you talking to, what are you saying and who is saying it? (Also, see the tool below.)

Leadership

Transport Leaders Book Club

Would you like to join a select group of transport leaders exploring the future of our industry through strategic reading and discussion?

The Transport Leaders Book Club brings together senior professionals for meaningful conversations about the books, publications, and emerging concepts shaping the future of transport. This isn't just another networking event; it's a dedicated space to develop your strategic thinking alongside industry peers.

What to expect

• Monthly discussions focused on carefully selected transport publications
• Diverse perspectives from leaders across different transport jurisdictions
• A collaborative environment for exploring complex transport challenges
• Opportunities to apply insights directly to your work.

If you're interested in joining this exclusive community of transport thought leaders, please express your interest here.

Innovation

Heavy Lifting Made Easy: eCargo Bike Sharing

We all know about bike share schemes for renting bicycles and e-bikes. Now, some jurisdictions are experimenting further and enabling people to rent e-cargo bikes - electrified versions of traditional bicycles featuring an integrated cargo compartment or the ability to attach a cargo trailer. Here is an example from North Vancouver, Canada.

Tool

The Language of Persuasion: A Guide for Transport Advocates

One of the great things about publishing this newsletter is that people keep sending me interesting items to include. Because of my blog this week, I got sent an interesting guide on framing communications around transport produced in Victoria, Australia. Thanks to Massimo Galardi and Sky Croeser for this one.

Here is a snapshot of what you will find in the guide: