EVs
The real cost of electric cars – Claire Walters, Bus Users UK
Claire Walters, chief executive of Bus Users UK, emphasises the importance of proper planning and infrastructure to prioritise public, shared and active transport to meet sustainability targets. The electrification of vehicles has become the key focus of government...
Smart cities need smart highways and roads
Transport is one of the main contributors to carbon emissions in London and to meet the Mayor’s ambitious target to make the capital a net zero city by 2030 we will need to dramatically increase smart and electric transport alternatives – and not just electric cars!...
Road User Charging – Status Today, Preparing for Tomorrow
Road use charging is back on the agenda. While the economic and environmental arguments stack up, public acceptability will be a significant challenge. Getting this right is important and the infrastructure sector, says Stantec’s Dougie McDonald, must actively engage...
Electric vehicle charging: why it can be likened to the wild west
Setting net zero targets is the easy bit. The difficult bit is all about the practical measures to get from here to there, says Sir Dieter Helm, Professor of Economic Policy at the University of Oxford. And when it comes to electric vehicle charging the lack of an...
How vehicle sensor data is underpinning a revolution in road safety
Steve Birdsall, CEO of Gaist, provider of roadscape insight and intelligence services, explains the very real possibility of a revolution in road safety In the past decade, the role of data within the built environment has changed dramatically. An explosion in the...
The EV opportunity
At a recent transport event I was part of a panel addressing the issues associated with developing the infrastructure to facilitate the transition to electric vehicles. Burges Salmon's two largest sectors are Transport and Energy so electric vehicles, and indeed...
Change is in the air for logistics
Freight and logistics is a highly reactive industry which operates on tight profit margins, and as such is highly risk averse and resistant to change. However, the rising clean air agenda, with its revised focus on heavy goods vehicles as defined in the Government's...
Listening to the road user
Adopting the maxim "what gets measured gets managed" implies by association that what hasn't been tracked or measured properly is missed and consequently doesn't get managed effectively. In the transport sector, listening to the views of passengers and other road...
Six steps to closing the UK infrastructure funding gap
It is widely acknowledged that the UK will face mounting economic, environmental, and social problems if the nation's infrastructure fails to meet present and future demands. Government estimates propose that almost £500 billion is required to bridge the...
Enabling emerging transport technology and intelligent mobility
Embedded into the government's industrial strategy and key to its implementation are four 'grand challenges' - artificial intelligence and data, ageing society, clean growth and the future of mobility. These reflect seismic global trends and meeting these challenges...
Pondering a life without roads
I doubt that I will encounter a time without roads in my lifetime. Some view it as a goal, some that it is a fantasy and some that it just will not happen. Whatever the future there is one constant and that is change. Consider what has happened in your lifetime in...
A greener vision for major roads: will RIS2 rise to the challenge?
As the Government develops the next Road Investment Strategy, there's a lot of talk about technology and growth, with smart motorways and 'mile a minute' expressways connecting new homes and jobs and growing the economy. But what kind of strategic road network do we...
Technology will have a bigger impact on the highways sector than Brexit
FITZ Index polled over 200 respondents, drawn from across the highways sector, to find out what they thought about a range of current issues, six months after the referendum. 42% of the respondents were from Tier 1, 2 or 3 contractors, 28% were designer consultants...
Road pricing, past, present and future
There is considerable evidence, from Singapore, London, Stockholm and elsewhere, that congestion charging is acceptable to public opinion, provided that certain conditions are met, namely: equity, revenue-neutrality (or alternatively that any revenues are re-invested...
