Many of you will be aware of the activities of the Transport Visions
Network - An EPSRC, DETR and Rees Jeffreys Road Fund supported project for
young professionals* - examining societal and transport futures.

The Network works as a structured e-mail discussion forum for periods of 6
to 8 weeks, followed by a workshop which examines the key issues identified
in the discussion. 8 themes are being examined sequentially with a report
being produced for each theme. The report for the first theme, Society and
Lifestyles was published at the beginning of the year and is available to be
downloaded (www.trg.soton.ac.uk/research/TVNetwork/).

The printing wheels are currently turning on Report 2 (Transportation
Requirements - a set of guiding principles for designing our transport
systems) and work is underway on the report for Theme 3 (Land Use Planning)
which concluded with a workshop in February.

We are now turning our thoughts to Theme 4 - Vehicles and Infrastructure.
The underlying goal of the theme is to examine what new opportunities exist
for improving vehicles (from bikes to jet packs (if thats your vision)), the
way we design, and travel with them and the infrastructure which they run
on.

New technology undoubtedly offers us the possibility to enhance the
capacity, safety and environmental peformance of all existing modes of
transport and the potential to develop new "intermediate modes" or new
concepts altogether. Infrastructure construction and maintenance have
advanced over this century but perhaps not at the same pace as vehicle
technology - what does the future hold for the road of tomorrow? - how
intelligent will it be? Will we need to monitor the road surface from a
vehicle or will the road have an in-built health check system? As well as
the two systems operating as "vehicles" and "infrastructure" - what can be
delivered by making intelligent vehicles talk to intelligent infrastructure?
(Note that in considering this theme, vehicles aren't just cars and
infrastructure isn't just roads (take real-time bus-stop information as an
example)). How can this be made to deliver truly integrated transport
systems?

As well as examining the technical issues however, we will want to cover
other factors central to the success of new transport technologies. How will
humans cope with increased automation of the driving task? How will these
benefits be distributed across our population (the young, the old, disabled
etc..)? How can we be pursuaded to make the change from our current model of
vehicle ownership to new ways that allow the critical mass for new vehicle
technologies to be acheived?

We are looking for new members for the network in all areas of transport
relating to vehicles and infrastructure(maritime, rail, air, road,
infrastructure, sensors). If you would like to get involved then please join
the network through the web site (www.trg.soton.ac.uk/research/TVNetwork/).
We would also welcome any thoughts on areas that you would like to see
addressed in this theme which can be sent to me.

Best regards

Greg

*Membership of the Network is open to anyone aged 35 or under. We have been
asked why we have an age limit - age being no barrier to innovation. The
rationale for the network came from an essay competition organised by the
World Roads Association for under 35s. In reviewing visions work to date it
was noted that almost all previous vision documents have been produced by
senior professionals. The explicit contribution of young professionals is
rarely evidenced. All reports in the series from the Transport Visions
Network will be produced exclusively by young professionals. A young
professionals’ perspective will not guarantee better visions but it promises
the prospect of new ideas and perspectives that can challenge existing
mindsets. The young professionals of today will be the decision makers of
tomorrow, responsible for delivering effective solutions. The Network will
provide an insight into their views on the future. Anyone ineligible to join
the network discussion can still access the resource centre and receive
updates and reports and we are keen to encourage wide participation.

Dr. Greg Marsden
Research Fellow
Transportation Research Group
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
University of Southampton
Highfield
Southampton
SO17 1BJ
Tel: +44 (0)23 80 592174
Fax: +44 (0)23 80 593152
http://www.trg.soton.ac.uk/