The rise of user-centred services – many accessed using smartphone apps – is undoubtedly changing the nature of the debate at a time when there is the emergence of a new paradigm for transport planning – decide and provide. 

It’s all the more pleasing therefore to see some conferences reaching out beyond the traditional and provide the platform for wider perspectives. The future of mobility is a key opportunity for the profession, one that is also integral to the UK’s Industrial Strategy. We need to ensure that our approach to assessing the merits of alternative solutions to a problem look to the future. 

When public transport is used as a Wi-Fi enabled mobile office should journey time reduction be as significant a determinant of our investment decisions as it has been for so long? Should we perhaps be using carbon costs associated with the proposals as a determinant alongside financial cost?  Why are we still not taking into account whole life costs associated with a proposal to give us a better understanding of the long-term consequences of our investment decisions?