Use and Abuse of Language
in Transport
Ian Ker
Principal Planner/Economist
ARRB Transport Research
You never really learn to swear until
you learn to drive
You never really learn to swear until
you learn to drive
Road-rage hits elephant in Sri Lanka
Monday July 2, 3:53 PM (AFP) Road-rage hits
elephant in Sri Lanka.
A Sri Lankan elephant experienced a fit of roadrage, pushing aside a bus after the driver rudely
obstructed its way. The elephant was ambling along
a main highway in the central town of Eheliyagoda
recently when a private bus overtook it and came to
an abrupt halt in the path of the pachyderm, the
Lankadeepa newspaper reported. As several
trumpet calls failed to get the obstructing bus out
of the way, the tusker pushed the offending vehicle
and smashed its windows before continuing its
journey.
Police did not press charges.
More Language Cyclists Dislike
Nanny State? Or Aunt Sally?
A government perceived as having excessive interest in
or control over the welfare of its citizens, especially in
the enforcement of extensive public health and safety
regulations.
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
Working with the Market
 Clearer perception of costs, benefits and impacts
Working with the Market
 Clearer perception of costs, benefits and impacts
 Removing ‘barriers to entry’





‘try before you buy’
choose what works for you
no need for long term commitment
information
opportunity
Automobility is Bad language
auto - self, own, of or by oneself
mobile - shifting position readily; not fixed
automobile - shifting position readily by
oneself?
Automobility and Academia
 More than metal and (e)motion
 Inevitability of the automobile
 Oil makes the wheels go ‘round
 The auto as liberation
technology
 Centrifugal spin
 Trapped behind the wheel
 Cultural icons and rites of
passage
 Foul play
 Blowing smoke
 Where do they go to die?
 Moving away from cars
 Where are we now?
 Calming traffic
University of California at Berkeley
‘Automobility 121’
Syllabus 2003
Regulation is in the Eye of the Beholder
A Level Playing Field?
Mass car ownership offered us a control over time and space which no
previous generation has ever had, and we took it up willingly and
enthusiastically. But it has got out of hand. It has now started to
defeat its own advantages: There is much talk of a 'level playing field'
- but playing fields are never level, which is why we change ends at
half time. It's now half time - literally: we are probably about half
way to the levels of traffic that would eventually apply if trends
continue unchecked, and that just won't do. So we need to find a
better way, or better ways.
Phil Goodwyn (1997), Solving Congestion
Inaugural Lecture as Professor of Transport Policy
University College, London
Transport Infrastructure Funding:
A Level Playing Field?
 Roads
Large continuing investment
needed
Mainly from current user
revenues
Hypothecated funding sources
Users apparently meet
expenditure…
…but expenditure less than cost
in cities:
Externalities
Deteriorating asset
 Public Transport
Large continuing investment
needed
Mainly debt funded
No dedicated funding sources
Users do not meet
expenditure…
…but expenditure greater than
cost:
Few externalities
Improving asset
Some Consequences
 Roads in cities are underpriced:
 relative to public transport
 in absolute terms
 ‘hidden’ deficit
 Roads are not subject to financial analysis
 Public transport is ‘deficit-funded’
 20% ($40 million) of cost
 25% of ‘deficit’
is interest on debt
 Bicycles fight for whatever they can get
Pattern Language
Fundamental to any science or engineering discipline is a common vocabulary for
expressing its concepts, and a language for relating them together. The goal of
patterns within the software community is to create a body of literature to
help software developers resolve recurring problems encountered throughout
all of software development. Patterns help create a shared language for
communicating insight and experience about these problems and their solutions.
Formally codifying these solutions and their relationships lets us successfully
capture the body of knowledge which defines our understanding of good
architectures that meet the needs of their users. Forming a common pattern
language for conveying the structures and mechanisms of our architectures
allows us to intelligibly reason about them. The primary focus is not so much on
technology as it is on creating a culture to document and support sound
engineering architecture and design.
http://hillside.net/patterns/patterns.htm
No Pattern Language
The Building of
the Tower of
Babel
by
Pieter Bruegel,
1563.
Oil on oak panel,
Kunsthistorisches
Museum, Vienna
Making Travel Behaviour Change
Work
 Funding Travel Behaviour Change Programs
 Government ‘walking the talk’
 Getting the economic signals right
 Transport pricing
 Taxation





Coherent supportive context
Leadership by example
Developing tools for employers
Sharing information
Supporting workplace travel plan development and implementation
Rhetoric to Reality:
What Inhibits Change?
Planning as a substitute for action
‘Expert servants’
Structural and institutional inertia
The best as enemy of the better
Not really believing it yourself
Never hire an architect who claims “I’m an architect - not a change
management consultant”.
Vivian Loftness, Professor of Architecture
Local Politics
 Misunderstanding
 Why should local government be marketing public transport for
State Government?
 Misperception
 We’re already ‘better’ than other places
 Misinformation
 It isn’t all it’s cracked up to be
Not ‘Just’ Physical Activity & Health
Independence
Cognitive Development
Physical Fitness
Self-esteem
Sense of Community
Sense of Place
Not ‘Just’ Physical Activity & Health
Independence
Cognitive Development
Physical Fitness
Self-esteem
Sense of Community
Sense of Place
Achieving and Perfecting