Following the AGM on 2 March  there was  lively discussion  at the Transport Planning Society’s Annual lecture where the question ‘Why are Transport Planners still here?’ was hotly debated. 

The controversially entitled blog by James Gleave of Transport Futures was the starting point for the panel’s discussion which was chaired by John Dales.  James posed some very fundamental questions, including the role of transport planners and big data, the impact of the age of technology and why transport planners should stop trying to predict the future and move away from predictions.

Mott MacDonald’s Tom Van Vuren (photo opposite) offered  a strong  defence of the profession from the panel, bringing attention to the importance of the role of transport planners in managing the challenges associated with “big data” and the importance of remaining experts i
our field, taking responsibility for understanding and communicating the underlying messages effectively. 

Questions from the floor were wide ranging and included;

• How much do we truly understand the past and what has gone before?
•  Is the profession moving towards scenario planning, rather than forecasting?
• Is the profession moving towards scenario planning, rather than forecasting?
• Would more effective monitoring provide the answers we need?

The overwhelming view  from the floor was that as Transport Planners, we need to be confident, clear and open about what valuation we assign to results and where we aren’t sure about the impacts.  Also, in an uncertain world, we require forecasting all the ore.

 Overall there was a unanimous feeling that transport should still be planned, but we need to be clear to others what our role is to the wider public and fellow professionals.  With specialists and generalists within our sector, this wide spectrum of skills provides a unique opportunity to contribute further to our understanding of the systems around us and communicate this to a wider audience.

Indeed, is “Transport planner” really the right name for the role we now undertake?   Maybe that is a discussion for another time…

You can read more of James’ ( photo above) blog at https://transportfutures.co/

A copy of Tom Van Vuren's presentation can be downloaded here 

Tom van Vuren - TPS - 2 March 2017 v1.pptx