As John Lennon once sang 'Strange days indeed – most peculiar'!

Who would of though even a month ago that the world and the way that we travel would of changed quite so dramatically overnight.

As someone who has been working in the transport sector for almost 25 years and trying to encourage people to change their behaviours –
Wow! We’ve all changed now….

As part of the Transport Planning Society’s response to Covid19 we want transport planners to ask themselves four key questions;

• How are you feeling about transport planning right now?

• What issues and opportunities for transport planning do you see posed by the COVID-19 crisis?

• How do you feel about the future of transport planning and why?

• What should transport planners and the TPS be doing about this?

So, here are my thoughts:

My feelings about transport planning change at least once a week, depending on whether or not I can get a slot to have my shopping delivered! But generally, I’m optimistic about this bright new world that we find ourselves in and the great world we can create from this situation.

Sure, there are some very immediate worries about the profession and how we ensure that transport planners are employed and in work. Because honestly I think they are going to be needed more than ever to ensure that we can continue to live, work and play in the way we want too and in a way that is good for us.

The issues and opportunities are massive; from the issue of getting key workers safely to their place of work, to making sure that services are accessible and available to everyone.

We also need to look at preventing future health crises by insuring that we can still all be active and that we are aware enough to look after our mental health in all of this.

I feel that transport planners must stand up and be counted – this is not the time to be hiding away!

We need to take a full and active role in the new world; taking learning from the old world about mistakes that we are not keen to repeat and encouraging the new ways of working and living that we’ve all discovered and putting them altogether - to plan, design and built a future that is fit for purpose.

I think transport planners and the TPS should be leading the way in showcasing new and innovative ways of travelling, by constantly asking is this the right way to do things? Furthermore, I think that they should be championing a new and equal and accessible transport system for everyone.

I hope others in the professional and those with an interest in transport planning will get involved and join in the debate at https://tps.org.uk/news/tps-launches-its-covid-19