ITS Monday: Edition 8, 2022

Stop calling it Mobility as a Service (MaaS): It actually is an Enhanced Journey Planner (EJP) or an Enhanced Travel Information Service (ETIS)

Mobility as a Service (MaaS) remains a trending term for media platforms and app developers to use. However, David Hensher, Chinh Ho and John Nelson suggest the term should be used more appropriately to describe a fully integrated and sustainable system, rather than just an enhanced travel planning app.

Working from home, health and wellbeing consequences of a pandemic

The second story for this week and as above it emanates from the University of Sydney. This Working Paper draws from “… a survey of 1,165 Sydney (Australia) workers conducted in late 2020, when restrictions from the first COVID-19 wave were easing across Australia, we explore the impact of the pandemic on perceived changes to Working from Home and other travel behaviours. Based on this analysis, we identify three distinct segments of the population with differing physical activity and quality of life outcomes.”

Footpaths and cycleways are an act of democracy

The text of a speech delivered last week by the former NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes, now Minister for Infrastructure, Cities and Active Transport. In it he covers “… the benefits to health, air, lifestyle – and freedom – of active transport, instead of our rusted on addiction to cars.”

‘Computer says road’: call for change to ‘crude’ planning models

Again on the topic of transport and land planning is this article from the UK edition of The Guardian. “Traffic modelling spreadsheets that “almost always tell us that ‘computer says road’” should no longer be used by planners and more money should be spent on building places geared for walking, cycling and public transport, according to a report by the Create Streets campaign.”

London pushes its car pollution levy to city limits

More London? You got it. And it’s news in the never controversial area of road use charging. It is of course already happening in London, but it’s stepping up a notch. “Next year, anyone who wants to drive a more-polluting older vehicle anywhere in Greater London will have to pay a £12.50 daily charge to do it, the equivalent of AUD 21.50.”

Energy Australia and Nexport team up for bus e-mobility

The last three curated stories this week are on the topic of electric vehicles. This first one is on electric buses, an are in which there is a lot of recent activity in Australia. In this instance we see “Energy Australia and ‘clean tech’ bus and transport solutions provider Nexport have ‘joined forces’ to, “… help public and private sector customers accelerate the uptake of zero-emission transport …”.

First electric CAT bus hits the streets in Joondalup

Staying in Australia, and again it’s electric bus-related, in Perth last week the first electric bus entered service on the city’s northern suburb’s CAT route today. “”With an eye-catching bright red livery, it will be hard to miss this new electric bus running passengers across Joondalup,” said Transport Minister Rita Saffioti.

Electric ferry makes maiden passenger voyage across Wellington Harbour

Finally this week, staying electric we move across the ditch to New Zealand. Wellington’s electric passenger ferry has made its first public sailing across Te Whanganui-a-Tara.