Think lattice, not ladder career development

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What should be the career development strategy for technical professionals?

A major challenge facing transport agencies is being able to readily obtain the required skills and expertise to plan, design, implement, operate and maintain smart transport infrastructure and services.

The public sector is still the predominant transport system owner and operator in Australia, although increasingly the private sector is providing infrastructure and contracted services ranging from road maintenance, to provision of bus and train services.

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How to ensure the success of smart mobility

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Measuring smart mobility initiatives is critical to success.

Transport agencies and companies are accountable for the return on investment funds and it is in their interest to demonstrate the success of past investment in moving towards desired transport outcomes, when seeking funding for future programs.

However, post-evaluation of transport projects is rarely conducted.

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Emerging fourth ‘E’ in improving road safety

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Road safety has successfully applied the 3 E’s: engineering, education and enforcement, preferably in combination, as they have demonstrated their effectiveness in reducing the human costs of road crashes.

Now as a result of application of technology the potential of fourth ‘E’: encouragement has emerged as a disruptive business model.

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What are fair public transport fares?

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Public transport fare policy is complex and fraught with compromises.

Some call for free public transport.

Others suggest the cost of car travel in peak periods should be have a congestion charge to provide a more level playing field (like London and Singapore).

At the same time, governments are trying to balance budgets, with less revenue and increasing demands for services.

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How do you know that public transport services are performing?

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The performance and reliability of road based public transport services is become an increasing challenge, and priority.

Traffic congestion is the dominant challenge in cities across Australia. In the recently released Australian Infrastructure Audit 2015 it was forecast that:

The passenger transport task (both road and public transport) across our six largest capital cities is projected to increase by 58 per cent, from 622 million km per day in 2011 to 982 million km per day in 2031.

In most major urban areas across Australia the priority is to increase the mode share of public transport and ensure value for money for taxpayers.

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The Seven Whys of Travel Demand

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Congestion is the dominant challenge in cities and infrastructure networks [1]

Putting the customer first is top priority for most transport agencies. This requires improving the quality of service to users by providing key infrastructure improvements, offering travel choices, managing as one network and providing integrated services.

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Your future career

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A major challenge facing public transport professionals is identifying ongoing opportunities for the development of their knowledge and skills, and obtaining a recognised qualification.

Most professionals currently learn ‘on the job’, being mentored by more experienced professionals and gaining experience over time. Related qualifications in engineering, planning, technology and the sciences are the usual areas that public transport professionals come from.

So how do professionals develop their capability further?

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Next Generation Traffic Management

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What are potential next generation road system management innovations to address ever increasing demands on major urban road networks with more and more data becoming available?

Australian road owners and operators in major urban areas, both public and private, are facing ever increasing traffic volumes and more pervasive traffic congestion, constrained funding for new infrastructure, and political hesitancy in moving towards comprehensive road user charging.

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Benefit Cost Analysis of transport projects: 9 No-Nos

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  1. Failing to state assumptions clearly.
  2. Ignoring costs due to disruption during construction
  3. Showing ‘optimism bias’ in demand forecasts; project costs; downside risks
  4. Not accounting for full costs of base-case (or ‘do-minimum’) option.
  5. Double counting benefits, eg increased land values due to better accessibility
  6. Ignoring the costs of items simply because they do not have been paid in cash, eg opportunity costs of existing land

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