Modern Transport Policy

This extensively updated textbook introduces the transport system and its societal impacts in a holistic and multidisciplinary way. A timely second edition, it includes new analyses of travel behaviour and the transport system’s impacts on health and well-being.

This book should be in the library of every transportation researcher. Ronald Sheck Intermodal and guideway research program director, Center for Urban Transportation Research, University of Florida There is no escape from transport. By sea, air, road or rail, we rely on transport to connect individuals, businesses and cities. At a time when deregulation and privatization are becoming global trends and concerns grow about sustainability, what is the future of transport for the 21st Century? The best-selling first edition of Moderñ Transport Geography provided a topical transport textbook, based on geographical theory and focused on contemporary issues. This new, expanded, updated and revised edition builds on the strengths of the earlier text by taking a more international and global perspective. The book brings together an unparalleled range of contributors, reflecting the international expertise of the Transport Research Groups of both the Royal Geographical Society and the Association of American Geographers. Modern Transport Geography takes a principles and practice approach which enables students to develop their own ideas on the basis of the contextual, analytical and case material provided. from reviews of Edition I This book has all the ingredients of a successful textbook... The presentation is both stimulating and thought provoking. There is a lot of up to date information on current and case studies from all parts of the world. And, finally, there are plenty of references for further reading. What more could one ask? Journal of Environment and Planning A Geography / Transport Studies / Planning / Social Science Contents * Transport Geography: an Introduction * Transport and Development: Conceptual Frameworks * The Role of Transport in the Development Process: Case Studies from Québec, Indonesia, Zimbabwe and China * Transport Deregulation and Privatization * Transport and the Environment * Urban Travel Patterns * Urban Transport Problems and Solution * Inter-Urban Transport * Rural Areas: the Accessibility Problem * Transport for Recreation and Tourism * Ships, Ports and Bulk Freight Transport * Intermodal Transportation * International Surface Passenger Transport * International Air Transport * Sustainability of Transport

At a time when transport is high on the political agenda and government decision-making is being vigorously scrutinised, there is a need for an incisive and accessible analysis of the key policy issues. This book is a highly readable introduction to the transport debate from two experts in the field. The authors celebrate the advantages of a modern transport system, but argue that years of poorly conceived and executed transport policy have resulted in Britain’s transport system being far worse than it should be. They show that a substandard transport system creates economic, social and environmental costs, but demonstrate how these can be addressed through affordable and politically deliverable changes. Using a refreshingly novel approach, Shaw and Docherty use the familiar idea of the journey as the basis for their discussion. The book follows members of the Smith family as they uncover a wide array of transport issues, including why the problems we all encounter as we travel around actually come about; which policy trade-offs were responsible for creating them in the first place; what impacts we all have to suffer as a result; and what we can do to fix them. This lively and engaging approach will make the book ideal for a wide readership.

Our lives increasingly take place in ever more complex and interconnected networks that blur the boundaries we have traditionally used to define our social and political spaces. Accordingly, the policy problems that governments are called upon to deal with have become less clear-cut and far messier. This is particularly the case with climate change, environmental policy, transport, health and ageing - all areas in which the tried-and-tested linear policy solutions are increasingly inadequate or failing. What makes messy policy problems particularly uncomfortable for policy makers is that science and scientific knowledge have themselves become sources of uncertainty and ambiguity. Indeed what is to count as a 'rational solution' is itself now the subject of considerable debate and controversy. This book focuses on the intractable conflict that characterises policy debate about messy issues. The author first develops a framework for analysing these conflicts and then applies the conceptual framework to four very different policy issues: the environment - focussing on climate change - as well as transport, ageing and health. Using evidence from Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific, the book compares how policy actors construct contending narratives in order to make sense of, and deal with, messy challenges. In the final section the author discusses the implications of the analysis for collective learning and adaptation processes. The aim is to contribute to a more refined understanding of policy-making in the face of uncertainty and, most importantly, to provide practical methods for critical reflection on policy and to point to sustainable adaptation pathways and learning mechanisms for policy formulation.

This comprehensive and accessible textbook introduces the basic concepts of transport policy and decision-making to students of transport policy, transport planning, urban transport, transport evaluation and public policy. It presents the founda

The key aim of this volume is to demonstrate ways in which an understanding of history can be used to inform present-day transport and mobility policies. This is not to say that history repeats itself, or that every contemporary transport dilemma has an historical counterpart: rather, the contributors to this book argue that in many contexts of transport planning a better understanding of the context and consequences of past decisions and processes could lead to more effective policy decisions. Collectively the authors explore the ways in which the methods and approaches of historical research may be applied to contemporary transport and policy issues across a wide range of transport modes and contexts. By linking two bodies of academic research that for the most part remain separate this volume helps to inform current transport and mobility policies and to stimulate innovative new research that links studies of both past and present mobilities.

This book challenges conventional approaches to transport by moving away from trend based analysis towards the use of scenarios to identify alternative sustainable transport futures.