Transport Economists’ Group
Formed in 1973, the Group provides a forum for people involved in transport economics to meet regularly and discuss matters of mutual interest. Membership is open to both economists working in transport and all others whose work is connected with transport economics. The aim of the Group is to improve the quality of transport management, planning and decision making by promoting lectures, discussions and publications related to the economics of transport and of the environment within which the industry functions.
Next meeting 25 September at 18:00 to 19:30 BST online
David Metz will talk about his new book “Travel Behaviour Reconsidered in an Era of Decarbonisation”.
He argues that there are two reasons to reconsider assumptions about travel behaviour. First is the desire to reduce car use to help meet the Net Zero objective, about which he is sceptical. Second is the supposition in conventional transport investment economic analysis and modelling that the main economic benefit is the saving of travel time, whereas the evidence is the people take the benefits of faster travel as enhanced access, for which time saving are not a good proxy. He will suggest that per capita travel demand has saturated and that accordingly road and rail networks can be regarded as largely mature, requiring maintenance and the application of digital technologies to make best use of assets, but not new capacity.
The book is available to download as a PDF without charge at https://uclpress.co.uk/book/travel-behaviour-reconsidered-in-an-era-of-decarbonisation
David Metz is honorary professor at the University College London (UCL) Centre for Transport studies, and formerly Chief Scientist at the Department for Transport.
Please register to attend by clicking on the link below to send us an email before 18:00 BST on Tuesday 24 September. It will help if you can also include your name and position and whether you are a TEG member.
I wish to attend the September TEG meeting at 18:00 BST online
(Alternatively, email with Subject “I wish to attend the September TEG meeting at 18:00 BST online” to Attendance@transecongroup.org)
For meetings available online, we will send you a meeting link approximately 24 hours in advance, and the online meeting room will normally be open after 17:45 for 18:00.
We aim to begin the speaker’s presentation promptly at 18:00.
All with an interest in the subject are welcome to attend our regular TEG meetings, whether a member or not.