Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
behavioural change, slower speeds, freight planning, spatial planning, etc. An important
issue here is remit. The interventions considered cover the responsibilities of Oxfordshire
County Council and other key public and private decision-makers, including those at the
national and European levels.
3
Policy options and schemes can be iteratively redefined to achieve the stated policy
objectives through a different specification, changes in network routing, a tightening of
legislation, or improvements in incentives. This stage of iteration and refinement is often
overlooked in transport and urban planning. It also gives further opportunity to different
stakeholders, if a transparent process is followed, to explore the possible implications of
particular policy options and the progress against objectives.
4
Scenario costs (particularly in view of current funding constraints within the transport
sector) would provide an additional dimension to the analysis, and are not assessed here,
as would political and public implementability. Often the 'optimum theoretical' strategies
fail because little consideration is given to deliverability issues, as illustrated by much of
the experience in introducing road pricing regimes. Perhaps political and public acceptability
should be considered first, and a consensus produced, before the technical work is
undertaken, so that abortive work is avoided. Affordability issues are then tackled by
programmes which work towards societal goals consistently over the long term.
5
Impacts across multiple indicators often work in different directions, and the use of a tool
such as INTRA-SIM illustrates this well. Trade-offs will need to be made in putting together
future strategies. For example, aggregate time savings (and junction delay/aggregate annual
car time) become less important, as other measures of economic performance are refined
(such as the economic performance and competitiveness of urban areas), and the
achievement of CO2 reduction, improvement in accessibility, safety and local air quality
become more important. MCA also offers the potential to weight objectives and criteria,
including changes in weighting over time, hence assisting in the achievement of the
important strategic societal goals that are being adopted (Saxena, 2012; Hickman et al.,
2010b).
Achieving deep reductions in transport CO2 emissions is likely to prove very demanding,
for example requiring a move towards the 'high level' of application of the policy packages
considered in Oxfordshire, and beyond. These types of measures whet the appetite of many
transport planners, yet are usually impossible to deliver in the current public and political
context. This is the problem to be resolved in Oxfordshire and other similar contexts - how
to develop and deliver more radical transport strategies that can lead to significant change.
Castells (1978, p. 120) reminds us that:
public transport becomes a synonym for discomfort, for congestion, for oppression, for
compulsory timing [. . .] then one thinks only of escaping it, of autonomy, of the capacity
of unrestrained autonomy; the 'need' is thus created and the market is there, all ready to
satisfy the demand of the consumer - it is 'the reign of the car for individual freedom'.
And once the cycle is begun, it is impossible to stop it.
The current level of debate, investment and implementation will not lead to significantly
reduced transport CO2 emissions in Oxfordshire. There needs to be a much greater focus on
meaningful participation, and on preparing and selling a consensus over the key strategic and
controversial decision points. It is perhaps here that new participatory tools can become
important. Many of the younger, and next, generation of voters are used to conversing in a
