Author name: Steven Edwards

Wed, April 27, 2022
12:00 PM – 1:30 PM BST This event is free to attend.
The current system of transport appraisal has been described as not fit for purpose, with many weak, incorrect or outdated assumptions. The climate crisis has brought the failings of the current approach to carbon in particular into sharp focus. The tension between the government’s transport decarbonisation strategy on the one hand and their continued funding of expensive and controversial road schemes on the other, suggests the need for an urgent rethink of the appraisal approach. This webinar will discuss the issues with the current system and how best to reform it. 
This is the first in a new series of webinars showcasing the work funded by the Foundation for Integrated Transport (FIT). This webinar includes presentations from FIT’s senior Fellows, Professor Phil Goodwin and Professor John Whitelegg, and a panel discussion, including Professor Jillian Anable, chaired by FIT Trustee Mark Frost.

@mateosfo
You’ll often here people say things like “we can’t reinvent our cities in time to reduce car usage, it’s too expensive and will take too long, only Elon Musk can save us” 
The cost of changing the US vehicle fleet to 100% EVs is about $15 trillion and will take until ~ 2060

Oct 10, 2019 Peter Norton
Stop de Kindermoord in the Netherlands: demonstrators block a dangerous intersection in Amsterdam, October 31, 1972.
Among advocates of safe, sustainable, and bike-friendly mobility, the Netherlands has long been the success story to point to. But in English-speaking countries, and especially in the car-dominated United States, how useful is the Netherlands as an example to emulate? The question has been divisive.

@jdavey_2 
Occasional reminder: One @Rivian [SUV] battery could power 450 e-bikes.
And the average house already has over a dozen charging stations.

Carlton Reid
An official from the U.K.’s Department for Transport has written to local authorities warning them that budget cut-backs will mean major road schemes, previously considered dialled-in, won’t be funded from central government if they are likely to increase carbon emissions. The schemes may also be cancelled if they do not cater for active travel, such as cycling and walking, or public transit.
Philip Andrews, Head of Road Investment, Policy and Pipeline Development at the Department for Transport, wrote that the government that “will not have sufficient funding to continue to fund all the [major road] schemes currently in the programme to the current scale or timing.”

Staff Reporter March 16, 2022
National Highways have announced another round of Lower Thames Crossing consultation just days after Thames Crossing Action Group, who represent those who are opposed to the proposed £8.2bn Lower Thames Crossing project (LTC), have called for the £24bn RIS2 road programme to be re-opened.  
RIS2 is the Government’s second road investment strategy, and includes the highly controversial LTC.  A section of National Highways Licence, which Government uses to set out the Secretary of State’s statutory directions and guidance to National Highways states that if there are “Major variations, which would affect the Licence holder’s overall funding, have a material effect on the integrity of the RIS or otherwise compromise the Licence holder’s ability to comply with the RIS, would require the RIS to be re-opened.”
The group wrote to Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps MP, on Mon 14th March calling for him to re-open RIS2 based on a variety of major variations.

@mateosfo The primary cognitive error in car brain is about cost.
When you buy a car, you’re paying $20,000 to $40,000 for a mobility service you use 1-2 hours a day – & then locking in additional ~ $10k per year for as long as you rely on a car. Over your life, that’s a $ half million.