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There is an active contemporary debate about how emerging technologies such as automated vehicles, peer-to-peer sharing applications and the ‘internet of things’ will revolutionise individual and collective mobility. Indeed, it is argued that the so-called ‘Smart Mobility’ transition, in which these technologies combine to transform how the mobility system is organised and operates, has already begun. As with any socio-technical transition there are critical questions to be posed in terms of how the transition is managed, and how both the benefits and any negative externalities of change will be governed. This paper deploys the notion of ensuring and enhancing public value as a key governance aim for the transition. It sets out modes and methods of governance that could be deployed to steer the transition and, through four thematic cases explores how current mobility governance challenges will change. In particular, changing networks of actors, resources and power, new logics of consumption, and shifts in how mobility is regulated, priced and taxed – will require to be successfully negotiated if public value is to be captured from the transition. This is a critical time for such questions to be raised because technological change is clearly outpacing the capacity of systems and structures of governance to respond to the challenges already apparent. A failure to address both the short and longer-term governance issues risks locking the mobility system into transition paths which exacerbate rather than ameliorate the wider social and environmental problems that have challenged planners throughout the automobility transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bus Rapid Transit systems exist in over 206 cities and 45 countries around the world. They are seen to provide a much lower cost option of mass mobility than fixed rail or underground systems which developing countries struggle to afford. Whilst BRT systems have undoubtedly been seen to be successful from a transport system perspective, they are more than a transport system innovation. They are often introduced to replace what is seen to be a failing, unsafe and poorly regulated informal transit system. This paper therefore focuses on the process of BRT introduction as a governance reform. The paper draws on African experience where adoption of BRT has been slow relative to South America and South East Asia. Using an in-depth analysis of the introduction of a new system in Ghana and data on levels of governance maturity across the African sub-continent, the paper finds that to understand BRT implementation requires an understanding of how the incumbent transport regime could and will be able to be reorganized. The success of BRT systems that result will depend at least as much on how the reforms are achieved as it will on the usual design concerns which typically occupy transport planners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper addresses the important question of how institutional structures matter to the delivery of climate change policy for urban transport. It examines the strategic goals, policy tools in operation and initial progress towards carbon emission reduction in seven cities across the UK and Germany where different institutional structures exist. The UK has the presence of a strong national carbon target and strong hierarchical national–local government relationships whilst Germany has a more integrated system of local transport provision in a context where local and regional government is stronger. Our findings show that the carbon agenda has made very little difference to what is happening on the ground in the cities. Across all sites, progress is being made but largely through technological improvements which are being almost completely offset by population growth. Even in the more integrated city environments there has not be an additional stimulus to manage the demand for travel. Contrary to previous research therefore, we cannot conclude that institutional structures are paramount in delivering effective carbon reduction policies. The institutional structures in the UK and in Germany are not perfectly aligned to carbon management but, given the cross policy impacts of most transport interventions, this is perhaps inevitable. We can clearly conclude however that “better” structures are not sufficient to achieve the implementation of more effective carbon policies. Whilst institutional structures must matter, it is the broader governance environment and the resources and politics involved in transport policy that currently seem to dominate the importance of the carbon agenda and implementation paths that emerge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stimulating the economy is a dominant policy objective, but on what basis are decisions being taken around transport and growth? We describe how transport studies and political geography offer two related, but poorly connected, theoretical approaches purporting to explain the relationship between transport and the economy. Yet in what ways does it matter that two different world views exist? We test these questions through an empirical case study of how city and regional officials use transport in attempting to realise economic objectives. Echoing theoretical approaches based in political geography, we find officials' own reasoning places emphasis on supply side improvements, especially connectivity within regions and on a high quality urban environment hoped to attract high GVA jobs. The decision-support tools are not well aligned to this reasoning, focussing on time savings and the justification of the value for money of proposed schemes relative to other investments in the region and nationally. In contrast to much theoretical work on competitiveness, employment growth is treated as exogenous with less emphasis given to which areas win and lose in the region. It is competition between weaker regional towns and cities that is prominent in officials' discourse. Such a gap between the thinking by officials, and the types of available transport investment decision-support tools, is of international significance. Given the centrality of the economy to where and what we invest in, the paper suggests a need for better knowledge about the efficacy of urban realm and other supply side improvements on job creation and on the influence of local autonomy in decision-making on investment selection and outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper presents a state-of-art review of why and how policies and policy lessons in the transport planning arena are transferred between cities. It begins by drawing on literature from the fields of political science, public administration, organisational learning and management to outline a conceptual framework for policy transfer and learning. This framework is then used to structure a review of policy transfer literature in the fields of transport and planning policy. Although there is only a limited amount of literature on policy transfer in this field, the findings suggest that transport has much in common with other areas of public policy in terms of the main aspects and influences on policy transfer. As well as being part of a process for introducing new ideas into countries or cities, policy transfer in the transport sector (as in other areas of public policy) can also be a highly politicised process that seeks to justify preferred solutions. Little is known about the relative importance of different parts of the transfer process or the extent to which learning about policies in other areas can influence the effectiveness of policy design in the transport arena and/or policy outcomes. The paper concludes with some research and methodological recommendations that may help to answer these questions. It is suggested that policy transfer concepts can be important to both practitioners and researchers in the transport arena, particularly given the pressures to seek solutions to accelerate progress to a more sustainable future. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]