Thursday, 17 December 2009 15:29

Taxi Workshop details announced

The TRI Taxi Studies Group is delighted to announce its involvement in the Transportation Research Board's Taxi Workshops, taking place in Washington DC on the 10th January 2010. Full details of the meeting are available by following the link below:

Taxi Studies Workshops - information (PDF)

Friday, 11 December 2009 16:01

Korean Forum for Progress - Prof Cullinane Keynote Speech

TRI Director Professor Kevin Cullinane had the honour of being invited to deliver a keynote speech at the 2009 Korean Forum for Progress (KFP) Conference on “Korea's New Engines of Growth: Airlines and Maritime Logistics Services".

Professor Cullinane was one of the world-renowned experts who in total delivered seven thematic papers. As well as his speech, he also lent his expertise on the subject of “Global Dynamics of Maritime Transport and Port Competition/Co-operation in Northeast Asia: Strategic Options for Korean Ports”.

The conference is a prestigious event in the Korean calendar and Prof Cullinane had the esteem of addressing the current and former Prime Ministers of South Korea.

Tuesday, 24 November 2009 16:42

Success in Innovation Scheme

The leading role of TRI scientists in innovation has been further underlined today by the institute being awarded Scottish Funding Council Innovation under the SFC HEI-SME Assistance Scheme. The project will be undertaken as a collaboration between the university's Transport Research Institute and CHARGE Ltd., a leading provider of environmentally friendly vehicles in Scotland.

Commenting on the success Dr James Cooper, TRI's Knowledge Transfer (KT) co-ordinator, underlined the significance of KT as a key element in the future direction of the university. The project would "continue to build the reputation of TRI and relationships between the institute and industry." The award would lead "without doubt, to successful and significant future research."

Further information on the project can be obtained from:

Dr James Cooper

Tel: 0131 208 1055,

Email:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Monday, 23 November 2009 00:00

Prof Peter White Seminar

TRI was proud to host Professor Peter White, from the University of Westminster on the 27th November 2009, where he delivered a seminar entitled “Current Issues in the UK Bus Industry”. A brief synopsis of the talk is provided below:

Current issues in the UK bus industry

Date & time: 27th November 2009, 1pm, room F31, Merchiston Campus.

Synopsis:
The relevance of recent research work to future prospects for the UK bus industry was examined, including trends in ridership, the impact of free concessionary travel, and specific factors in the very high growth in bus use in London. The contrasting implications of the Local Transport Act 2008 and the recent OFT report on competition within the industry were also reviewed.

Peter White is Professor of Transport Studies at Westminster and is the author of a textbook on public transport as well as many published papers. The focus of his research in recent years has been on the effects of privatisation and deregulation in the coach and local bus industries, as well as the impacts of rail privatisation in Britain. Please click here to access Professor White’s page at the University of Westminster.

Wednesday, 18 November 2009 16:41

TRI develops wheelchair access model for Dumfries and Galloway

TRI is to develop a wheelchair access model for Dumfries and Galloway. The work, which is headed by TRI's Dr. James Cooper, and a specialist team including Dr. Peter Ingram-Monk, has been commissioned jointly by the NHS and Dumfries and Galloway council. The work will fully audit the current and future trends in wheelchair use, identifying use, location and access requirements.

Dr Ingram Monk, who also Director of the D&G Accessible Transport Forum, called the work "an essential contributor in assessing needs for the entire population in all communities".

Further information on the study can be obtained from:

Dr James Cooper

Tel: 0131 208 1055,

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Wednesday, 18 November 2009 16:27

TRI announces major technical development in rural transport

TRI's Dr. James M Cooper and Mr. Jeff Duffell UK Operations Director of Mobisoft, presented an outline of a Rural Transport and DRT portal at an Edinburgh ITS meeting held at the Scottish Government.

The concept arises as a significant part of joint work between Napier, Mobisoft UK, and partners Quotient Associates and Aberdeen University. The project seeks to simplify how Demand Responsive Transport is offered and booked.  Although Demand Responsive Transport (DRT - shared door to door public transport) has developed in a number of urban and rural areas, solutions are local with no mechanism to offer services further afield - for example if you wish to book DRT in Cornwall, does it exist?

Also, transport providers, particularly smaller ones, cannot offer their services to the users easily, even though demand and spare capacity exist, as they cannot afford to invest in advanced scheduling systems.

A DRT Management Portal will match the demand for shared transport to the supply and allow passengers to actually book transport in real time. A trial will demonstrate how existing operators can interface to their current systems and new, smaller, operators can offer their services directly.

The project will show how such an approach can remove the barriers to shared travel.

"We wish to offer new forms of flexible transport that people will actually use, by making it easy for them to use it" says Jeff Duffell the UK Operations Director with Mobisoft.

Further information on the project can be obtained from:

Dr James Cooper

Tel: 0131 208 1055,

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it