I include some of these details in a chapter on Transport Planning in my book (from late Oct 2024), "How to build a Metro". So please head over and take a look.... Another departure and I hope a useful metaphor when looking at the impact of "Value of Time" calculations used in transport appraisal! A … Continue reading Quantum Physics, Transport Planning & Value of Time (VoT)!
Author: @swalesmetroprof
Professor of Practice in Connectivity at Cardiff University's School of Geography and Planning. Conceived & been working on The South Wales Metro since 2010...also KOd some thinking re Swansea Bay Metro and Cardiff Crossrail!
The population conundrum…and immigration opportunity
A very quick blog/brain dump, prompted by some Linked In Comments earlier today. Its draft and if I get time will refine and add some references in the next few days.... Seems to me we are facing a population conundrum. Today the world's population is just over 8 billon; up from just 3 billion in … Continue reading The population conundrum…and immigration opportunity
What is going in the US re: UAPs?
This is another departure for me.... As a child growing up in the 1960s/1970s I was fascinated with space, the Apollo programme and the potential for life elsewhere in the universe - and the possibility of UFOs. However, by my teens I had moved on with regard to the latter and like most people had … Continue reading What is going in the US re: UAPs?
A little knowledge is dangerous
A version of this blog was published in Bylines Cymru in August 2023 Over the last few weeks, I have become aware of some “climate change” arguments propagating, based around the percentage of CO2 in the atmosphere. I have to be honest, from the top of my head I couldn’t remember. I had a look … Continue reading A little knowledge is dangerous
Cars, Congestion, Health and Road Pricing…
I include a comprehensive chapter on cars in my book (from late Oct 2024), "How to build a Metro". So please head over and take a look.... I wrote a short blog on the subject of car dependency in 2021. Given the news today re a potential Road User Charge in Cardiff I thought a … Continue reading Cars, Congestion, Health and Road Pricing…
Cardiff Airport…stick or twist?…and Severnside!
Its ten years since Welsh Government bought Cardiff Airport…leading again to a polarised debate. In another shorter than usual article I want to try and unpack some of the issues and choices …and my views have been shaped by experts in the field of aviation (they know who they are!). So, do we stick or … Continue reading Cardiff Airport…stick or twist?…and Severnside!
Free bus fares….or not?
I cover these details in a chapter on Transport Planning in my book (from late Oct 2024), "How to build a Metro". So please head over and take a look.... We often hear calls for free or heavily subsidised public transport; we have free access to health care after all, so why not public transport? … Continue reading Free bus fares….or not?
Greenways for Cardiff?
I’ve written a little before about the ideas of Greenways – and mainly in relation to the potential future treatment of the corridor from the city centre to the bay along Bute St and Lloyd George Avenue following the tramway upgrade of the bay line in Butetown[i]. Greenways typically enable the introduction of liner parks … Continue reading Greenways for Cardiff?
Political, Economic & Environmental Hopes for 2023/4…
PS Still relevant in 2024.... I shared some Metro themed Hopes and Moans in two related blogs yesterday (1st Jan 2023). Here I want to quickly share some broader political, economic and environmental hopes (mostly naïve I suspect) that I hold for 2023 and beyond (with links and references to some of my blogs over … Continue reading Political, Economic & Environmental Hopes for 2023/4…
Metro Hopes for 2023…
I include an update of the future of Metros in Wales in my book (from late Oct 2024), "How to build a Metro". So please head over and take a look.... I’m normally pretty positive and optimistic…and have talked and written about Metros in Wales in such a manner, even with some small measure of … Continue reading Metro Hopes for 2023…
Metro Moans for 2023…
I include an update of the future of Metros in Wales in my book (from late Oct 2024), "How to build a Metro". So please head over and take a look.... (PS still relevant in 2024....) Single track Coryton line limiting service frequency to an inappropriate 2tph I’m normally pretty positive and optimistic…and have talked … Continue reading Metro Moans for 2023…
To Rome and back by train…
We have just arrived back from a 10-day return trip to Rome by train via Paris, Geneva, Strasbourg and Milan with overnight stops in Basel and Lyon. Apart from the salami incident in Geneva (see later) and a bus-rail replacement on the Geneva-Lyon section the same day, it all worked pretty well. I also learned … Continue reading To Rome and back by train…
Sex, gender, equality and compromises…
This blog is a departure for me, prompted by the recent phenomenon of the inability of some politicians to answer an apparently simple question, “What is a woman?”; a question that for years I never expected would one day generate so much and often ill-considered, debate. It’s also a question that seems to me, is … Continue reading Sex, gender, equality and compromises…
200 to 1: English Rail Investment V Wales Rail Investment !
I include an updated chapter on the rail industry and funding in Wales in my book (from late Oct 2024), "How to build a Metro". So please head over and take a look.... PS October 2023. Given PMs announcement cancelling HS2 north of Birmingham and a suggestion of £1Bn for OLE on the NWML I … Continue reading 200 to 1: English Rail Investment V Wales Rail Investment !
Do you believe in Metro?
I include an update of the future of Metros in Wales in my book (from late Oct 2024), "How to build a Metro". So please head over and take a look.... In January 2021 a headline appeared in the Western Mail[i], attributed to me, “South Wales Metro hampered by public disbelief as expert claims 'even … Continue reading Do you believe in Metro?