Rural Transport

Can the Swiss Model Fix Rural Public Transport?

Is there a better way to do rural public transport? Thomas Ableman thinks there is. He has been working on a national demonstrator project for the UK, dubbed 'Mini Switzerland'. A report into the demonstrator has now been published. Declaration: I am listed in the supporters section.

Key Takeaways

• Mini Switzerland builds a coordinated network where buses connect passengers with trains and trains link passengers with buses, at the same time each hour, every hour (this is based on how the Swiss transport system works, hence the moniker).
• The Hope Valley, in the heart of the Peak District National Park, sits between Sheffield and Greater Manchester, cities where around a third of households have no access to a car. Residents in these cities currently struggle to reach the National Park, despite living on its doorstep.
• Rural public transport only works when it is designed as a network: easy to understand, predictable to use and reliable enough to trust.
• Key features:
  • Hourly services on a clockface timetable. When buses and trains run at the same times each hour, every hour, the pattern becomes easy to remember and plan around.
  • Seamless connections between buses and trains.
  • A network that is easy to understand:
    • clear routes and corridors
    • a recognisable overall pattern
    • consistent wayfinding
    • obvious interchange points
  • Simple, joined-up ticketing:
    • a single ticket covering all local services in the area, regardless of who operates them
    • predictable, transparent pricing
    • attractively priced day and group tickets
    • straightforward ticket add-ons that combine bus and rail travel
  • Quality and reliability as the core offer
  • Clear, comprehensive information
  • Nobody left off the map
  • Comprehensive marketing of bus services
  • Better value through higher ridership
  • A demonstrator, not just a pilot
• The focus is not on evaluation in the sense of pre-defining “success,” but on learning: understanding how an integrated rural network behaves, and providing insights that can inform other rural areas across the UK.

Comment

Can the Swiss rural transport model work in a UK context? It is an interesting idea, and given its potential, it is worth pursuing.

What Next?

Are there lessons you can draw from the Swiss approach to rural public transport?

Behaviour Change

​Why MaaS Failed and What Might Work Instead

Mobility as a Service (MaaS) has failed almost everywhere. Why? This research paper examines whether the problem is that we have been focused on mobility services rather than on factors that produce travel behaviour change.

Key Takeaways

• There is success for MaaS in Japan and China with government-led initiatives with extensive subsidies, but there is no financial support in most countries.
• The future of MaaS lies in a greater involvement of non-mobility service providers (NMSPs).
• A survey in six countries was undertaken to identify initiatives within NMSPs that align with contributing to sustainable travel behaviour goals.
• The results suggest many NMSPs are committed to initiatives promoting sustainable travel behaviour for employees and other stakeholders.
• These initiatives include rewarding sustainable travel, workplace charging for EVs, subsidising employee use of public transport and facilitating active travel.
• There is considerable untapped potential for what NMSPs might be able to achieve with appropriate recognition and support.
• Arguably, the historical focus on transport service providers may have been a major roadblock in progressing MaaS.
• What will be important is the role that government can and should play in supporting the role that NMSPs can have, including gathering and sharing evidence of successes, KPIs, providing financial rewards and recognition of how an NMSP has changed behaviours.
• This approach might be better described as ‘Sustainable Mobility Initiatives of Business’ (SMIB).

Comment

Whilst MaaS has not worked, SMIB elements are already changing travel behaviour. For example, tax exemptions for employers funding public transport benefits (see here).

When I was involved in the George St light rail project in the heart of the Sydney CBD, there was a very successful comprehensive travel demand management program that included extensive work with businesses that would fall under the SMIB category.

Unfortunately, this program was not built upon and was cancelled.

What we need to do is work out how to scale up these initiatives to more geographies and businesses, and identify additional initiatives to test, e.g., e-bike subsidies.

What Next?

Should you develop an SMIB policy?

Transport Strategy

Hong Kong's Muddled Transport Strategy

Hong Kong with an existing public transport mode share of around 90% has just published a new transport strategy. Where do they want to go from here?

Key Takeaways

• The total length of the railway network will increase from about 270 kilometres currently to nearly 390 kilometres.
• The total length of major roads will increase from about 265 kilometres currently to nearly 380 kilometres.
• Three Main Themes:
  1. Enjoyable Journeys - Focus on enhancing travel experience and the functionality of transport hubs.
  2. Well-connected city - Leveraging technology and artificial intelligence to build a smarter transport network.
  3. Healthy Mobility - Promoting a low-carbon transformation by combining the proliferation of new energy vehicles with the enhancement of walking and cycling facilities.
• Six key strategies:
  1. Developing Transport Hubs for Strengthening Internal and External Connectivity to Embrace New Opportunities.
  2. Benefiting People’s Livelihood through Providing Smart, Green and Diversified Transport.
  3. Promoting Digital Management to Lead Development with Innovative Technology
  4. Optimising Infrastructure and Road Use to Boost Transport Efficiency
  5. Building a Green and Low-Carbon Living Circle through Transport Planning
  6. Ensuring a Safe and Inclusive Environment for Healthy and Vibrant Travel
• Position Hong Kong as a smart transport innovation hub by studying the development of a Traffic Management Platform that integrates big data analytics and artificial intelligence.
• Advance towards driverless and large-scale deployment, achieving commercial operation and enabling the industry to leverage Hong Kong as a platform to expand into overseas markets.
• Actively develop the low-altitude economy.
• To address parking demand, the Government will provide more public parking spaces and utilise automated parking systems.
• The Government will advocate “people-centric” road design, giving higher priority to the spatial considerations required for active transport modes in street planning.
• The Government will optimise crossing and walking environments through measures such as setting up more “diagonal crossings” and “low speed limit zones”.

Comment

One of the traps that transport strategies can fall into is trying to be all things to all people. This creates a muddle that favours the growth of motor vehicle use at the expense of other modes.

Unfortunately, this Hong Kong transport strategy has fallen into this trap. There is something for everyone - people walking, cycling and using public transport, but also car users, signalled by the increase in roads (40%+) and increased parking!

When it comes to cars, the strategy falls into the classic trap of ignoring induced demand and believing that more infrastructure and smarter technology will solve congestion.

Notably, whilst the world's best transport strategies have mode-share targets for sustainable modes, Hong Kong's has none.

This strategy is a massive missed opportunity. Hong Kong could have led the way on modern transport strategies. Instead, it has developed a strategy that fails to learn from past mistakes.

What Next?

Do you have a transport strategy that fails to make the difficult decisions and is all things to all people?

Quick Adventures in Transport Wonderland

Here is what else I came across this week:

• ​How a Small Canadian City Tripled Cycling Rates in Just 11 Years​
• ​Forget Free NYC Buses: Just Build 41 Miles of New Subways​
• ​Four years inside Haringey's street transformation​

Podcast

Integrating Transport and Land Use Planning

This week on the Transport Leaders podcast, Graham McCabe and I discussed why transport and land use planning integration is so hard:

• Why urban planners and transport planners don't talk to each other.
• The different departmental and political silos.
• The different cultures between the disciplines.
• Why transport models overestimate car use and how that impacts housing.
• We looked at examples from all around the world - Japan, Singapore, London and Australia.
• How to improve the situation.

You can watch it here or listen here.

Tools

A Toolkit for Gender Inclusive Mobility Planning

This week, I came across this toolkit for gender inclusive mobility planning.

Before you go: Here's how I can help

Working through a transport policy challenge?

I offer consulting, coaching, and training services to help you navigate complex decisions, build stakeholder support, and implement effective solutions.

Whether you need strategic guidance on a specific policy, want to develop your team's capabilities, or are looking for expert analysis, I'd be glad to discuss how I can support your work.

Get in touch at russell@transportlc.org