Technologies and travel

Travel demand exhibits a long coevolution with technological development, both directly, in response to the invention of new transport systems, and indirectly, as a result of transport aspirations being influenced by innovations in other sectors, such as the invention of the telephone and the diffusion of refrigeration.

The development of information-communication technologies in recent decades is central to this theme, having triggered a further round of interactions. New developments have enhanced our ability to manage and interact with the transport system in real-time, and in some cases, offer the prospect of avoiding travelling at all.

Research projects

For each project we provide key details and a summary. In most cases a two-page briefing sheet is available.

Current research

• Venturer Introducing driverless cars to the UK roads 

Completed research

• Family Rituals 2.0
• Choice Rail - Finding the best Rail Journeys
• Ideas in transit (exploring user innovations in transport)
• UKTRC: Technologies and travel
• Re-imagining the bus: Road Public Transport Services in a World of Falling Subsidies and More Complex Demand
• Spreading the word: A social-psychological exploration of word-of-mouth traveller information in the digital age
• Travel information and dyslexia
• FUTURES: Navigating the city - supporting the unfamiliar traveller
• FUTURES: Traveller information services - assessing barriers to their use
• FUTURES: Teleworking - trends in and causes of location independent working
• Traveline market research - scoping study
• The implications of technological change for rural transport
• Strategic review of travel information
• Variable price and attribute transport system
• INTERNET: Investigating new technology's evolving role, nature and effects for transport
• FUTURES - Future Urban Technologies: Undertaking Research to Enhance Sustainability (FUTURES scoping study)
• Transport Direct usability
• Virtual mobility