We have just lived through over 18 months of a pandemic and may not be out of it yet. This raises many challenges for Surface, the part of Transport for London that runs the ‘above ground’ transport network (Buses, Overground, DLR, Roads, Cycling, River Services, Tram, Taxi & private hire, Dial-a-Ride, and more). In a post-Covid transport environment the narrative has changed from “how do we recover revenues” to “what services should the public purse provide and at what cost?”
London has seen road transport recover to pre-pandemic levels and public transport recovering at a far slower rate. But is that the whole story? The city has changed dramatically since the first lockdown and the new city needs new to embrace mobility models to provide an equitable, safe environment for all.
“The biggest change of all has been around the behaviours of our travelling passenger”, says Simon Reed, TfL’s Head of Technology & Data for Surface Transport. “That passenger has worked from home, has access to new shopping, leisure and mobility services and, as a result, has new patterns of usage, new attitudes towards transport and new demands. The only thing that is 100% certain is that the demands of that passenger are going to change faster and further than ever before”.
In his opening keynote at TRANSPORT Smart Class, London & South East England 2021, Simon shared data showing how travel patterns have affected some of the pandemic’s impact on London’s public transport business and outlined how, from a technology team, TfL are trying to embrace the changes required in their passenger information, ticketing and technology strategies to give London the transport services that it needs.
If you meet our regular delegate qualification criteria but were unable to join us on October 7th for the live in-person event, CLICK HERE and complete the short “Download form” (at the bottom of the post) to receive a unique link enabling free access to the presentation video recordings and slides (including film footage and slides from Simon’s keynote).
Those qualifying to receive the rich content from these presentations include commissioning, procurement, trialling and partnering leads, senior influencers, strategic decision makers and planners from: local authorities (e.g. city, borough, metropolitan, district and county councils); public and private transport operators; regional transport partnerships, sub-regional transport bodies, combined authorities, integrated transport authorities and passenger transport executives; highways authorities and road operators; government and supporting national transport agencies; fleet operators, vehicle manufacturers, parking operators, prime contractors etc.
