Monthly Archives: December 2014

UK Bus Summit, 12 February 2015, London …

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It’s been 15 years since the Department for Transport organised the last major bus summit to encourage operators, local authorities and the bus supply industry to work together to stimulate patronage growth.Transport Times are organising this event in London on the 12th February 2015, supported by the DfT, with the aim of raising awareness on the role the bus can play in stimulating the economy, getting people to work, reducing emissions, providing access for the elderly and tackling inequality. www.transporttimesevents.co.uk

We are delighted that the Secretary of State for Transport, Patrick McLoughin MP, will give the opening keynote and Minister of State, Baroness Kramer will give the closing keynote address.

TfGM chief executive Jon Lamonte will be speaking on bus franchising in Greater Manchester following the recent government announcement that this power will be devolved to an elected mayor.

What is the timetable, how will it work, what will it mean for smart ticketing – and perhaps most importantly, who will take the revenue risk: TfGM or the bus operators?

More fundamentally, he will consider questions such as: Is franchising a panacea? Will it require more taxpayers’ money to be spent on buses? Can cities in the UK replicate London’s success on the bus front through franchising powers, or should they pay as much attention to what has happened with a state-owned and regulated bus market in Belfast?

The case for Quality Contracts in the North East will be also debated.

Opening Keynote: Patrick McLoughlin MP, Secretary of State for Transport

Closing Keynote: Baroness Kramer, Transport Minister

Confirmed Speakers:

Keith Brown MSP, Scottish Transport Minister

Danny Kennedy MLA, Northern Ireland Transport Minister

Jon Lamonte, Chief Executive, TfGM

Additional Speakers:

David Martin, Chief Executive, Arriva

Giles Fearnley, Managing Director – UK Bus, First Group

Robert Montgomery, Managing Director – UK Bus, Stagecoach

David Brown, Chief Executive, Go-Ahead

Prof David Begg, Chief Executive, Transport Times

Claire Haigh, Chief Executive, Greener Journeys

Mike Blackburn, Chair, Manchester LEP

David Brown, Chief Executive, Merseytravel & Chair of PTEG

Robert Hough, Chair, Liverpool City Region LEP

Alex Pratt, Chair, The LEP Network and Buckinghamshire Thames Valley LEP

Mark Nodder, Chairman & Chief Executive, Wrights Group

Andy Eastlake,
Managing Director, LowCVP

Anthony Smith, Chief Executive, Passenger Focus

Jonathan Bray, Director, PTEG

Anthony Vigor, Director of Policy and External Affairs, National Express
For sponsorship and exhibition enquires please contact Isabel Poulton on 01236 739577 or isabel.poulton@transporttimes.co.uk

For more information please visit
www.transporttimesevents.co.uk
or call 0207 828 3804

Roads ‘will mend themselves’ by 2050 …

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The Times, 3 December 2014, Gabriella Swerling.

Potholes plugged with a self-healing concrete and roads that warn cyclists of icy conditions may become the norm by 2050, scientists have suggested.

The Future of Highways, a report by Arup, the international design consultancy, considers how trends in urbanisation, climate change, resource depletion and changes in human behaviour will affect our roads.

Arup raises the prospect of pavements that use kinetic energy from pedestrians to power street lamps, tyres that deploy retractable studs for increased grip when ordered to by the car, and drones that monitor and carry deliveries. The report comes after George Osborne this week announced the the biggest road-building programme for a generation, pledging £15 billion for improvements.

Tony Marshall, of Arup, said: “It’s interesting that the government strategy included significant investment in funding innovation. The aim of [our] report is to look at trends and predict how they will develop.

“By thinking across modes we can move towards a connected, low-carbon future.”

The world’s vehicle count is expected to grow by 3 per cent each year until 2030 and the proportion of people living in cities is predicted to reach 75 per cent by 2050. The report created a series of fictional case studies to deal with greater urbanisation and analysed global innovation in vehicles, materials and technology.

Researchers from the universities of Bath, Cardiff and Cambridge are developing a self-healing concrete that uses bacteria to seal cracks. Giken, a Japanese construction company, developed an automated underground bicycle park that can retrieve b

However, Ian Pearson, a futurologist, dismissed the significance of the report’s low-carbon focus. “It will be a historical issue. By then we will have more nuclear and solar energy, so we really don’t need to worry about using oil. It’s basically a hit list of what you can do in 2050,” Dr Pearson said.