Soon-to-retire Transport for London (TfL) MD Surface Transport Leon Daniels knows a thing or two about public transport.
He’s been at the sharp end of innovation, and now has access to vast amounts of travel data.
Speaking at an industry event, he admits he was wrong in some of his assumptions about congestion in London: “My scripture had convinced me that it was all down to internet shopping. We have to break loose from our tightly-held views.” Instead, he says it’s mainly caused by food outlets, cafes and small supermarkets needing multiple daily deliveries due to lack of on-site storage.
He says we should “challenge people who say we’ll never eliminate the internal combustion engine; there will never be autonomous vehicles; people will never give up their car; ride share or there will be buildings with zero emission vehicles driving through them, instead of outside them.”
He argues that people who say the coach and bus industry will carry on for the next 50 years like it has before, are wrong.
He quotes renowned planner and visionary Riccardo Marini who observes: “Everybody wants progress, but nobody wants change.”
Leon threw down a challenge: “I call on our industry – especially young managers – to lift up your eyes from the daily grind and get ready for a revolution that is coming our way at great speed.
“We can’t keep reinventing what we have with marketing and swanky new vehicles.
“Our industry needs a quantum leap into a new – and hopefully more profitable – arena.”
