Past Events
New Business Case and Appraisal Guidance for Transport Schemes
London, 27 June 2011
Around 35 TPS and CILT Transport Planning Forum members gathered at Colin Buchanan’s offices in London to hear Gavin Gaunt from the DfT talk about the latest transport business case and appraisal guidance. The event provided an opportunity both for DfT to explain their thinking behind the recent changes and for transport planning professionals in the audience to give their views on the new guidance.
Some of the key messages from Gavin were that:
- decision making will continue to be supported by sound transport planning evidence
- appraisal and decision-making should be seen as two separate processes with the outputs of appraisal being used to guide and support decisions made by ministers
- there is a new clearer structure to business cases which transport planners will need to adapt to
- the qualitative elements of appraisal are just as important as the quantified BCR as they allow decision-makers to assess the trade-offs between the different impacts of a scheme
- some changes have been made to the content of WebTAG, including the Benefit Cost Ratio formula, social and distributional impacts, the latest DECC carbon values, et al
- an Early Assessment and Sifting Tool (EAST) has been introduced to facilitate appraisal of schemes at an early stage.
A copy of Gavin’s presentation is available here.
Getting the most out of transport investment
Transport Planning Society, 26 January 2011
Around 60 people attended a Transport Planning Society event on 26 January 2011 to hear presentations from three leading experts on the topic of transport investment and appraisal in a period of constrained expenditure.
To hear a recording of the event please click here.
Professor Phil Goodwin described research he had undertaken into the value for money of a range of different policies and proposed that the areas that offer the highest value are smarter choices (now “nudge”) measures, cycling and pedestrian schemes, local road safety schemes, and some bus schemes. Shifting spending to these types of project, he argued, would result in quick benefits, local focus and be cheap – all plus points in the current political context. Professor Goodwin also referred to the recent TPS member survey, and found his findings were consistent with the thinking of transport planning professionals.
Paul Godier presented the CfIT research he was involved in, which looked at how we can get more from less transport spending. The work explored potential changes in a number of areas, including efficiency savings, bus subsidy, reallocation of spending to the high value areas of smarter choices and road safety, green taxes including lorry road user charging, and private sector contributions and estimated that annual savings of £3.5bn might be achievable. Paul concluded by saying that there is a menu of options that could make a big contribution to short term fiscal need, fill the looming hole in fuel duty and VED, and still deliver a great deal on the economy and climate change.
Bill Tyson reported on work undertaken by the Independent Transport Commission that recommended some short- and long-term improvements to social cost benefit analysis of transport schemes. Short term improvements include reviewing the way CO2 costs and travel time savings are treated, and overcoming weaknesses in the distributional aspects of appraisal. In the longer term, the implications of localism need to be addressed, there should be a greater focus on economic impacts rather than transport benefits, and that we should spend more time learning from what others have done elsewhere. Bill concluded with some personal observations that appraisal should aid decision-making not replace it, that results need to be presented in an understandable way, and that appraisal should not just be about what to build but also how it is used.
A lively and informed discussion ensued covering a wide range of issues, including whether personal trip-making has now peaked or will resume an upward curve; the importance of transparency in decision-making and being honest about which elements of appraisal are strong and which are weak, possibly by applying probabilities; the role of social networking, focus groups and citizens’ juries in informing appraisal; whether smaller projects tend to have higher benefit cost ratios; and whether decision making and funding at a more local level in many European countries helps to explain why tram schemes are much more common on the continent than in the UK.
All in all, an interesting evening that raised many questions, but confirmed the TPS survey findings supporting substantial reform, particularly in relation to schemes which are low cost, and have high benefits delivered in the early years. Hopefully this will provide some food for thought for the Department for Transport in its impending update to the guidance on appraisal.
To download the presentations please click on the following links.
Prof. Phil Goodwin presentation
If you are interested in reading the background papers recently published by the Independent Transport Commission and the Commission for Integrated Transport:
http://trg1.civil.soton.ac.uk/itc/op_1009.pdf
http://cfit.independent.gov.uk/pubs/2010/tco/index.htm
Jamie Wheway
TPS Board
Olympic Park Tour
4th November 2010
On 4 November 2010, the TPS organized a tour of the Olympic Park in London, providing members with the opportunity to view progress on the construction of the park. Compared to the previous TPS visit in October 2009, amazing progress has been made, with most of the main structures now in place, including the main stadium, the velodrome, the aquatics centre, the basketball arena, the broadcast and media centres, and the athletes’ village.
The scale of the park is simply awesome and we all left just hoping for success in the ticket ballot next year!
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High Speed Rail: Transport Planning Society Debate
23rd September 2010
The Transport Planning Society’s High Speed Rail Debate on 23rd September provided an opportunity for all aspects of the proposed networks to be aired. Speakers included Jim Steer (Greengauge 21), David Bull (Birmingham City Council), John Adams (Emeritus Professor, University College London) and Stephen Joseph (Campaign for Better Transport). The session was chaired by Nick Richardson (Mott MacDonald), a director of the Society.
To listen to a recording of this event please click here.
Currently, a scheme is proposed that would reduce journey times between London Euston and Birmingham Curzon Street to 49 minutes and between a new Birmingham International high speed station to an interchange with Crossrail at Old Oak Common to just 31 minutes at speeds of up to 320 km/h.
The case for reducing carbon and supporting economic growth was put forward against a more cautious view that a ‘hypermobile’ society is undesirable and that an assumption that growth projections are achievable or desirable is misplaced. Would a new route be fully integrated with other modes to ensure good access and social inclusion? Would the line blight the Chilterns through which it would pass? There would be substantial benefits for the West Midlands but other parts of the country could miss out, particularly if funding the scheme detracts from its full delivery or that of other transport schemes; however, a role within a wider European network could be envisaged. Each of the speakers explained the reasoning for their vision ranging from High Speed Rail presenting a way forward not to be missed to an unrealistic aspiration of growth that should not feature High Speed Rail in the form proposed.
If major road building is no longer a way forward, High Speed Rail needs to contribute to a reduction in car dependency rather than abstracting existing public transport users. Planning a new service with associated improvements offers an opportunity to integrate the benefits with economic growth more fully. Locating development around High Speed Rail stations and those on which capacity could be created as a result offers opportunities to plan for future land uses in a coherent way.
Although many questions remain to be addressed as the proposals emerge in more detail, the speakers drew their conclusions on whether High Speed Rail presents a highly attractive business case and creates opportunities to rebalance spatial planning or whether it meets only the needs of a minority at the expense of the majority and fails to deliver the shift in transport patterns to which it hints. A recent survey of TPS members suggests that only 18% see High Speed Rail as a top priority for spending in the next five years (compared with 53% in favour of capacity improvements for the existing passenger rail network) so no doubt the debate is set to continue.
Nick Richardson
Transport Planning Society
02380 628793
nick.richardson@mottmac.com
It’s Official - Two wheels are fastest!
Inspired by Messrs Clarkson, Hammond and May, the TPS held its very own “Race Across London” on 14 July 2010.
Six groups from Arup, PBA, Halcrow, MVA and SDG, with a total of around 25 participants, started the race from their different offices and converged by foot, bike, scooter, motorcycle, bus, tube, ferry and taxi on the Cross Keys pub near the Chelsea Embankment - probably the pub most distant from a tube station in the whole of Central London!
Overall, we found that, based on average speeds across all the journeys, two wheels are the fastest way to get around, with little difference between motorised and leg-powered forms. Taxi came in third, whilst taking the tube and running came in at about the same speed. Next came bus, then walking (although walking was quicker than the bus for some journeys). The ferry came in last, although that was entirely down to having to wait for 40 minutes for the next service!
We also found that popular on-line route planners, e.g. TfL, walkit, cyclestreets (other journey planners are available) are, with a number of exceptions, pretty good in estimating journey times.
Discussion over a few beers after the race revealed that the Halcrow team had included in their journey times the time taken to get changed into cycling gear and trainers, raising the interesting question of whether this should be included in transport models, and if so, what weighting should be applied to it?!
National Pub Quiz - 'Universally Challenged' Take Top Honours in London!
The 'Universally Challenged' team from the Transport Planning Practice fought off competition from 17 other teams to win the London leg of the 2010 TPS National Pub Quiz, claiming victory after the tie-breaker.
Despite only scoring 5 points in the transport round(!), they showed an amazing breadth of knowledge in other areas, including children’s TV and sport, to amass an impressive total of 63 points. This score was matched by 'The Even Cheaper Side' from TfL, but 'Universally Challenged' clinched it on the tie-breaker. In third place was the 'Cylcopaths' from Halcrow.
As well as the quiz, the evening also featured a raffle with prizes donated by Steer Davies Gleave, Halcrow, Urban Initiatives and ITP. Thank you to them and to all those who bought tickets, as we managed to raise £170 for the charity Transaid.
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| TPS Board Member, Bob Coe, presents the prize to Dean Hodson, captain of the winning team, Universally Challenged |  |
The Even Cheaper Side 63
Universally Challenged 63
Cyclopaths 62
MYFG 61
MVA 60
Team Arup 58
Steer Davies Gleave 58
Urban Initiatives 56
SW2 54
Mott So Clever 52
TTR 50
Spirit of Partnership 50
Paved with Gold 48
Les Quizerables 47
ITP and Strays 47
Crash Test Dummies 46
Mott So Good 36
Mott so Clever Either 36
TPS at the Olympics
13 November 2009
30 TPS members enjoyed a fascinating tour of the Olympic Park in London followed by a presentation on transport planning for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Meeting at Stratford station on a wet Friday morning, our bus took us on a tour around the construction site of the Olympic Park.
We were able to see the velodrome beginning to emerge from the ground, the aquatic centre with its distinctive roof, and the Olympic Stadium. Many of the buildings on the site are also well advanced, including the main press centre, the international broadcast centre (as big as Canary Wharf!) and the Olympic Village where the athletes will stay during the Games.
We then learned about the transport planning for the Games and the challenges faced in ensuring spectators, athletes, media, sponsors and officials can access the Olympic Park and other venues, and at the same time allowing London to continue to function normally.
Many thanks to Iain Killingbeck and Bayo Dosumnu from the Olympic Delivery Authority for hosting the event and for providing such an interesting commentary and presentation.
