The travelling public will have a ‘much higher’ expectation from the transport system in the UK, according to Mark Corbin, chair of the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport (ADEPT’s)National Traffic Manager’s Group.

He was speaking on this week’s Highways Voices podcast and ahead of the Traffic Managers conference, taking place on October 13th.

He said: “I think people will have a much higher expectation from the transport system, because they will be paying a lot more careful attention to how they plan their journeys, though. And that’s where I think some of the pressure will come on to us as traffic managers now.

“We have to have measures of control to ensure we deliver on the big agenda items such as clean air. We have to be able to balance the fact that we have to manage a climate emergency, air pollution and everything else associated with the environment with balancing what we are doing every day and finding a way of engaging better with users of our transport services in different ways.”

Mr Corbin added: “So we have to absolutely stay very connected, very united, keep sharing, keep talking because the challenges are big. And the response from us is going to be huge. And we’ve got to make sure that we properly engage that and learn as we go.”

He said ‘we have a user-led transport service like we have never had before’.

During the podcast interview, Mr Corbin also spoke about delivering the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022. “This is about doing what we normally do better but it is all about access and providing sustainable ways of travelling alongside the more traditional-we have to be prepared for everything.”

In this podcast you’ll also hear about the Highways Voices podcasts for the ITS World Congress sponsored by GEWI and SWARCO, and why Transport for the West Midlands wins “Adrian’s Accolade”. Listen here.

Subscribe to Highways Voices free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts or Pocket Casts and never miss an episode!