Transportist: August 2025
Welcome to the latest issue of The Transportist, especially to our new readers. As always you can follow on Mastodon, or RSS. A BlueSky feed is also available..
Conferences
Bridging Transport Research: August 6 - 7, 2025. (Free). I will be kicking it off talking about A Web of Nets. 12 pm- 1 pm AEST DAY 1 Eastern: Wednesday, August 6.
ATRF 18-20 November, Auckland
IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC 2025) 18 -21 November 2025, Gold Coast, Australia
TDM 9-11 December 2025, Sydney
WSTLUR 8-11 June 2026 in Beijing
WCTR 6-10 July 2026, Toulouse, France
INSTR 15-17 July 2026 in Lyons
ISTTT 20-24 July 2026, Munich, Germany
Jobs
Posts
Sydney Toll Roads Need a Holiday
When Minnesota’s Department of Transport darkened every one of the Twin Cities’ 430 ramp meters for what was intended to be four weeks in October 2000, the result was perhaps the largest ‘natural experiment’ in the history of transport science. Freeway speeds fell, travel times rose, and crashes spiked, giving planners and engineers evidence on how metering worked. But it also showed the inequities of the system, how meters favoured suburban motorists over those living in the city. I had the opportunity to study the effects of ramp metering with my students and colleagues, and the experiment was invaluable for designing the replacement that was to come.
Dr. Haotian Wang
Congratulations to Dr. Haotian Wang for “satisfying the requirements for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Sydney.”
Observations of Shenzhen
For detailed discussion of AVs in Shenzhen, See: On Riding a Pony in Shenzhen
Observations of Xi'an
I was recently in Xi’an, a city better known for its imperial legacy and underground armies than its transport systems. The Xi’an airport was vast and overbuilt for current demand, which is better than the alternative. China Eastern got us there without incident. I was there to attend a conference at Chang’an University, a good opportunity to reconnect with former students, US colleagues, and a cohort of scholars working at the urban edge of Chinese infrastructure. Also: so many banquets, and so many gifts.
On Riding a Pony in Shenzhen
I was going through Shenzhen on my way back from Xi’an. I decided to take a multi-day layover to ride a Pony, see the future, and catch up with a few people. I have previously reviewed the Riding a Waymo in LA.
Research
Research by Others
“Positive Reviews Only” - It would be a shame if everyone did this and for-profit journals had to pay human reviewers.
Your Regular Reminder
NSW Looking to Remove Weekly Toll Cap
Josh’s toll bill is about to rise 233 per cent. He’s not alone by Mostafa Rachwani
University of Sydney professor of transport David Levinson said he believed removing the cap would be likely to have an outsized impact on motorists from western Sydney.
“Without an alternative, the removal of the $60 toll cap will likely have a disproportionate impact on low-income households, especially in western Sydney, where toll exposure is high and mode alternatives are limited.
“The state’s toll system already skews regressive – this move, in the absence of a replacement policy, worsens it,” he added.
Levinson pointed to the Independent Toll Review, led by Professor Allan Fels and Dr David Cousins, which had identified that the toll network as it stands was a “poorly functioning patchwork” that left western Sydney drivers shouldering a greater financial burden.
It also found drivers from the region were often left without viable alternatives and faced a greater risk of “mobility-related social exclusion”.
Levinson said the only real solution in his eyes was for the NSW government to “consider acquiring these assets, enabling the implementation of a unified, distance-based tolling approach”.
Links
Universal Cancer Vaccine (using mRNA). Technology is advancing. Progress happens anyway.
UP looking at Norfolk Southern [It’s official] I’d suspect a BNSF-CSX tie up proposal is next, either as competition if they are both approved, or to derail the UP-NS merger by creating over-concentration and federal rejection.
Russian transport minister found dead (after being sacked by Putin)
How China's new auto giants left GM, VW and Tesla in the dust
Unclaimed Luggage - Where missing American suitcases go to be matched with new owners.
Another 950 jobs to be slashed from NSW Transport department [My condolences to everyone who lost a job who wanted to keep it. This is on top of earlier layoffs. Generally these kinds of layoffs are indicative of management issues as much as anything, though obviously the new management will blame the old management as long as they can get away with it. It is probably worth noting the organisation now has ONLY two ministers, down from the four in the previous regime, so some progress has already been made. I will also say that it is an organisation that has been undergoing “reorganisation” since I first arrived here, or at least that’s the excuse for why things don’t happen that should.]