Join us at Act TravelWise Annual Conference, 15–17 February

Are we facing our fears?

Glenn Lyons – Mott MacDonald Professor of Future Mobility at the University of the West of England

“It was an inspiring 18-year old high-school student from Sweden in the week after COP26 that (in her second language) offered the following paraphrased words of wisdom: “Being comfortable in an emergency is not hope, hope springs forth from facing our fears”.  The climate crisis is testing transport professionals, policymakers and politicians like never before. The science is clear – we are still not doing enough, even if we are ramping up pledges and action. 

“We need behaviour change. We will need national as well as local measures to mobilise change in behaviour at the level and pace required. Is it that unreasonable to expect society to turn the dial down by 20% on its car use – when that would still signal 80% of it still be available for the taking? Are we not capable of greater reliance on proximity and digital connectivity for our needs instead of leaning so heavily on motorised transport?

“We should make no mistake, we are at very serious risk of being in a proverbial frog-boiler in which we are gradually being cooked to death without realising it – the longer we leave facing our fears, the more fearful our futures may become.” 

COP 26 Reflections and Avoid/ Shift/ Improve

Susan Claris – Associate Director, Arup and Vice President of Living Streets

Susan Claris is a transport planner and an anthropologist who has worked for Arup for nearly 30 years. She is Arup’s global champion for active travel and she led the report “Cities Alive: Towards a walking world” and co-authored the “Cycling for Everyone” report with Sustrans. Susan is also the Vice President of Living Streets, the UK charity for everyday walking.

“Susan will reflect on her attendance at COP26 where she chaired two events and why she thinks it is time to change the conversation around transport decarbonisation. The majority of the talk on transport at COP26 focused on the electrification of vehicles. But to reduce the carbon impact of transport, our towns, cities and regions must go beyond ‘cleaning-up’ vehicles. Instead we need to firstly Avoid (reduce the need to travel). If travel cannot be avoided, then we Shift trips from car to walking, cycling and public transport. And if trips cannot be by sustainable modes, then we should minimise the impact of road traffic by improving it, such as electrification. This is not just something for decisions makers – this is relevant to us all and our individual actions.”

Active Travel England

Guy Boulby – Head of Cycling & Walking, Active and Accessible Travel Division, Department for Transport

Guy will be speaking about the Department for Transport new executive agency, Active Travel England (ATE). With Chris Boardman appointed as the new interim Active Travel Commissioner for England, based in York.

ATE will manage the national active travel budget, awarding funding for projects which meet the new national standards set out in 2020. ATE will also begin to inspect, and publish reports on, highway authorities for their performance on active travel and identify particularly dangerous failings in their highways for cyclists and pedestrians.

The future of transport outside cities

Stephen Joseph, visiting professor at the Smart Mobility Unit, the University of Hertfordshire

Stephen Joseph is a transport policy consultant, specialising in urban and local issues and in smart transport. Stephen will focus on the transport priorities required to reduce car dependency outside of cities. Based on his recent current work in this area for the University of Hertfordshire Smart Mobility Unit.

Decarbonising transport in the city regions

Dr Clare Linton, Policy and Research Advisor at the Urban Transport Group 

Dr Clare Linton conducts research across a range of policy areas including transport and housing, public health, social inclusion, freight, people and skills, sustainability and smart transport futures. Clare has a PhD in Low Carbon Technologies from the University of Leeds, and holds a BA in Geography and an MSc in Climate Change and Policy, both from the University of Sussex.

Clare will reflect on the role of public and active travel in our recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and how decarbonising transport can help to deliver city regions that are greener, fairer, happier, healthier and more prosperous places.

What measures are needed to tackle transport connectivity in low density areas?

Beate Kubitz, Independent Transport Consultant

Beate Kubitz is a transport consultant with experience in future mobility and the role it plays in carbon reduction through research, innovation and policy development. In 2020 she was awarded a fellowship by the Foundation for Integrated transport to develop research into the impact of rural and periurban mobility on city centre traffic. Her research has focused on the potential for flexible and shared services and better active travel infrastructure to bridge the transport gap for people who live in less dense areas.

Beate will look at what measures are needed to tackle transport connectivity in low density areas – Using a simple dichotomy of ‘urban’ and ‘rural’ in looking at the transport decarbonisation challenge isn’t always helpful. In Manchester, under 600,000 of the 2.8 million inhabitants live in the very urban core. The remaining 2 million plus live in a more diffuse area of interconnected towns and suburbs across 9 boroughs. Detailed mapping shows these surrounding boroughs to be less well connected with smaller areas of high connectivity than the city centre. Large numbers of private car trips originate in these less dense and less connected areas but end in the areas best connected by public transport – undermining public transport and reducing air quality. 

Overview of Co-Benefits of Active Travel

Professor Adrian Davis of Napier University

Professor Adrian Davis  will present an overview of the benefits of active travel and highlight how a knowledge of these is beneficial for the wider policy development process. One of the prime benefits of active travel are their associated health benefits, an area of work that has been the focus of the World Health Organisation.

WHO’s HEAT tool

Dr Nick Cavill, Public health expert & director, Cavill Associates

Dr Nick Cavill will present WHO’s HEAT tool, which enables the monetisation of the benefits of cycling and walking in support of the policy development process.

E bikes & Climate Change

Dr Ian Phillips

Dr Ian Phillips will present findings from his recent paper on E-bikes and their capability to reduce car CO2 emissions. key message from the paper is that e-bikes have greatest CO2 reduction capability in rural areas. Also that technology alone (including e-bikes) isn’t a magic bullet, and there is also a need for travel demand reduction.

Rachel Swiatek, Programme Manager – Energy Saving Trust

Rachel is the EST programme manager responsible for delivering the previous and current eCargo Bike Grant Fund that is being delivered by Energy Saving Trust. 

Rachel will speak the huge increase in demand for the ecargo bike grant fund this year to factors such as increase in deliveries following the pandemic and heightened business awareness of the climate emergency.

Rob King, CMILT Co-founder & CEO, Zedify

In 2005, Rob launched Outspoken Delivery in Cambridge which helped pioneer cargo bike logistics in the UK. He successfully founded two other cycling businesses before joining forces with Sam Keam to form Zedify in 2018. Together they are on a mission to transform the way deliveries in cities happen to help create the liveable spaces that are clearly needed. 

Rob will speak on the topic of e-cargo bikes and last mile logistics for 2022 and beyond and why they are so important to help the recovery and progress from the pandemic and COP26. He will also touch on the wider context of what’s needed from Government and local authorities to get more people using e-cargo bikes.

Jessica Hall, Regional Manager, Tier Mobility 

Jessica will speak about TIER and how the company sees the future of shared mobility and micro mobility in the UK and the drive to decarbonising transport in 2022 and beyond. 

Antony De Heveningham, Co- Founder, Cargodale

Cargodale CIC is a registered Community Interest Company and an e-cargo bike delivery service within the Calder Valley, supporting local businesses and helping to reduce traffic and pollution.

Antony a co-founder and director of Cargodale is a lifelong utility cyclist, a transport consultant and a contributor to Singletrack magazine. Antony will speak on how e-cargo bikes can contribute to zero emission deliveries and reduce pollution/congestions in rural communities. 

Chris Slade, Smoove

Global evidence of bike share going electric. Chris is leading the development of UK bike share for Smoove, increasing ridership with fleets of e-bikes. Smoove are a bike share supplier established in 2008, now with over 55,000 bikes with flagship schemes in Paris, Helsinki, Moscow and Lima. Previously Chris was Scotland Director for CoMoUK.

Speakers

Charles Johnson-Ferguson, Transport and Logistics Leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers
“Commuting after COVID-19 : PwC public transport report.”

Harry Leeder, Strategy Lead, Environment Agency
“Hybrid working, the Employers View.” 

Ali Bell, National Head of PR, National Express Public Transport
“The shape of commuting, the travel operators view.” 

Ali Clabburn, CEO of Liftshare, Mobilityways and C-Lab
“Car sharing post Covid- the benefits.” 

Colin Munro, Managing Director, Miconex
“The impact of the ‘new’ commuter on the High Street.”

Hannah Byk, Partnerships Manager, BetterPoints Ltd
“Bring it alive – making commuting something to think about.”

Wouter Berris, International Business Development Director, Mobility Invest Group
“The future of commuting: a view from the Netherlands.” 

Overview of transport for the Commonwealth Games

Graham Jones, Commonwealth Games Technical Director Planning for the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, CWG 2022  

An overview of how the 2022 Games has been planned and the transport collaboration that has been necessary to ensure that 72 nations can compete and over one million spectators can watch the event live. 

Travel Demand Management for the Games The TfWM Travel Demand Management Approach

Post-Covid Public Transport Recovery & the Games; Active Travel for the Games

Graham Jones, Commonwealth Games Technical Director, TfWM

How Public Transport and Active Travel is being integrated and utilised not only to reduce the reliance on car travel, minimise congestion and to keep the region moving during the CWG 2002 but also to provide a ongoing legacy after the Games have ended.