East Renfrewshire Council and Steer Davies Gleave’s joint paper Beyond The Numbers: Exploring The Wider Benefits And Indicators Of Successful Personalised Travel Planning Through Real Life Case Studies was presented by Scott Gibson and Kirsty Davison at the 6th Annual Scottish Transport Applications Research (STAR) conference, held on 24 March. Scott Gibson went on to be awarded the “Best Paper Presented at the Conference by a Young Professional”.

The Department for Transport (DfT) has today approved the Leeds New Generation Transport (NGT) trolleybus network for programme entry. This approval follows the Major Scheme Business Case document, which was submitted to DfT by Metro, the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive and Leeds City Council with support from Steer Davies Gleave.

As part of the business case, Steer Davies Gleave undertook pioneering analysis to quantify and monetise reliability benefits of the scheme.

Steer Davies Gleave’s Urban Dynamic Model (UDM) is being used to explore the relationship between transport, employment, housing, mode shares and carbon emissions for South Yorkshire and Merseyside.

In South Yorkshire the UDM was first applied in 2007 when it was used to demonstrate how large scale investment in transport infrastructure could have a major impact on the local economy, showing gains in employment, with associated productivity and agglomeration benefits.  Extensions to this original commission are being used to update and enhance this model.

While the recession may be over, the fall-out will be here for some years to come in terms of the pressure on public finances. The intelligent use of geodemographics is one way in which local authorities can look to reduce costs while minimising the negative social impacts.

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