Introduction: Why "@ccess"?

The work that EcoPlan has carried out over the past decades in the transport sector has from the outset pushed hard for a far broader approach to and framework for understanding of the sector than is usually taken by most transportation specialists. From our very earliest work beginning in the late 1960s we tried hard to convince our readers and clients that the future belongs to those who stand ready to address and understand the movement nexus in a much more comprehensive way -- breaking down and ready to move away from the old product and technology barriers and categories which were and are holding back successful innovation. What struck us then and still does to this day is the enormous contrast between the received attitudes of most of the players who have traditionally held dominant positions in the sector -- positions that are for the most part are highly conservative and generally resistant to new and different perspectives -- and the reality of a sector that is clearly in the process of facing large and growing pressures for radical change and re-formulation.

What are these pressures for change? What are the problems that are opening up in their wake and facing operators, suppliers, and regulatory agencies? What are the opportunities that this entirely new environment offers for those who are able to spot them and then ready to move to exploit the new situation? And how does one organize to meet these new opportunities? All of this, in one short paragraph, is what our work in this sector has been about over all these years and continues to be to this day.

Relatively early in our work in the sector (the mid-seventies) it became apparent that the room for synergistic interaction between (a) products and operations that traditionally operated in a information-poor operations environment and (b) the rush in development of new information and communications technology, was not only enormous but also likely become one of the dominant themes of progress and opportunity in the sector. But there is more to it than just technology (no matter how important that may be). There is also the huge scope in terms of new ways of organizing transport, most of which was being aggressively ignored by the main actors in the sector. Who says that the only way to organize transport in a place is in some sort of arbitrarily limited binomial system: "private cars" and/or versus "public transportation"? That ridiculous traditional distinction may have held the high ground in transport circles at one point, but the way in which it closes down our minds to reality and closes out opportunities is nothing less than incredible. And quite unnecessary.

So here is the framework as we see it. The first step in getting control of the future is to make a simple vocabulary adjustment, and began to stretch our minds beyond the use of the term transportation per se, and favor instead the much broader and infinitely more productive concept of access. By shifting to the word access, one begins to think about the range of different ways of bringing things to people and people to things. Among other things, it gets us to thinking about services, as opposed to all the old products, thus opening up a new universe of opportunities. (Over the 1980's there was an emerging trend on parts of the leading edge of thinking and practice in transport matters to favor the word "mobility" -- however even then we had great difficulty with the concept of maximizing mobility, at least in scarce urban and environmental space where it could well lead to possibly counterproductive results. "Access: Toward an Alternative Framework for Transport Policy & Action in Cities" seemed like a much stronger and more useful concept, and is one which we continue to use to this day.

For more of our thinking on this, we can direct your attention to two sections of our public interest sites on the Web, one of which @ccess on the Web provides a pretty good overview of the concept and how we think it can be put to work, both in the public and in the supplier sector. And as a single example of how these new "rules of the road" apply and can open up new opportunities, the reader may wish to have a look at the information that is contained in the @World Carshare Consortium site, which looks at one of the several hundred (and we would repeat hundred) alternative concepts that are now opening up and which constitute the transport world of tomorrow.

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Milestone Projects and Reports

Below you will find an annotated list of the number of the studies in projects we've carried out in this area over the last several decades, although said that arranged in chronological order that since indeed if you take time to read through the accompanying summaries they do indeed tell a story. (This listing is still in process.)

New Technology and Transportation: 1970-1990 (1969)

This was the first of our international surveys of technology changes and prospects in the field of transportation, broadly defined. This three volume report was carried out in cooperation with Euro-finance and identified, grouped and screened some 350 technology innovations, ranging from accelerating moving sidewalks, new computer assisted transport modes, innovational fuels and motive sources, city cars, goods transport, automatic high-ways and the like, although the way through prospects in the world of air transportation after SST. The bulk of our work under this world survey was focused on new ground transportation forms. The main message: if your firm or agency's operating in a narrowly de-fined transport mode, and you wish to prosper, open up your sights and get used to consider your business or responsibility from a much broader perspective. The growing inter-dependence between developments in transportation as Donald movement systems and new electronics and communications technologies was already making itself vigorously fell. The report was carried out by a major international bank and eventually and with their permission repackaged and marketed as the first of our international group studies. More than 80 firms and public agencies working in the transport sector purchase copies of the report.

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Innovational Guideway Systems and Technology (1971)

This was a follow-up project to the original 1969 world transport technology survey and eventually generated three separate reports, each of which financed and carried out as an international group study. The first of the studies in this series, carried out in 1971, had been initiated with some cautious hopefulness for the prospects of unconventional high-technology ground transport systems. However as are research under this program gained strength, it became obvious to us about mid-way in the cycle that the future was far more likely to belong to the integration of "marginal improvements" in more familiar transportation forms including from new electronics, motive systems, materials, new forms of management organization.

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The Urban Car (1972)

A brainstorming report carried out in 1971/72 for the then-new Environment Directorate of the OECD that took as its point of departure one of the "predictions" of the original New Technology study, mainly that we anticipated they working of the automotive market by the latter part of a plan period into two main product areas: (a) large, fast, and expensive "road machines" and (b) much smaller vehicles destined to be used primarily in cities and for short distance lower speed transportation. Taking the latter as our point of departure, we then went on to investigate and discuss with a variety of expert sources what the latter might eventually look like from both a performance and technology perspective.

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Innovational Ground Transport in Europe (1971)

Innovational Bus Systems and Technology in Europe (1974)

This research project and report carried out over 1973 and 1974 was a reaction to what were ultimately some of negative findings in the immediate the previous study of Innovational Guideway Systems and Technology. The report surveys developments and prospects both in terms of problems and management changes in the bus business and also functional requirements and the potential markets for urban bus is in the near and medium-term future. In a second section report looks at and comments on loans and prospects for lectured battery buses, trolley buses, initial energy buses, Sterling and Rankin cycle engines, gas buses of several sorts, demand responses and guided buses, and the emerging relationship in those years between buses and their vehicle monitoring and location systems. Once again and the emerging interface between the vehicles and the new electronics captured our attention and was central to are final conclusions and recommendations. On the other hand the report was considerably less sanguine on the near and medium-term prospects of alternative engines and our sources.

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Innovational Guideway Systems and Technology in Europe (1975)

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Nonconventional Transport Systems and the Developing World (1974)

This project, carried out with the backing of the OECD Development Center over 1973 in 1974, consisted of an international survey, a series working papers, workshops, brain-storming sessions, and a rather substantial final report. The initial point of departure was to examine whether or not the developing countries might be an appropriate place for the application of some of the new technology systems that we were in the process of identifying in or other work under this program. Quickly however it became apparent that the main thrust of transportation innovation the developing countries was not going to be via these new, rarefied and expensive technologies, but rather in a radical rethinking and re-organization of the street system and ways of using it. One of the main final thrust of the investigation and our recommendations had to do with the support and development of transportation arrangements rather different from the much more limited private car/public transport bipolar system that was than so poorly serving not only the developing countries but most of the advanced industrial nations as well.

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Future of the Urban Bus (1975)

This also began as a single multi-client report but eventually developed into a cluster of reports and assignments with both manufacturers, suppliers, and concerned public sector agencies. We came to the cycle of assignments from the following perspective: if the near and medium-term future of collective transport in cities lay with continuing marginal improvements in upgrading of existing movers, it was clear that there was a great deal that could be accomplished with urban bus systems. These new services were going to per-form in new and diverse ways and were going to in-corporate new technologies and materials. We used working papers, reports, and cooperative and private workshops and brainstorming sessions in order to test and advance these ideas.

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The World Automotive Industry to 1995 (1975)

This 1975 group project initially conceived in our garden at EcoPlan as the free-wheeling look at the future of the sector making use of the methodology broadly similar to that of the earlier studies in the New Technology series, eventually developed into a massive 12 volume analysis which eventually had some 40 subscribers and a budget of approximately three-quarters of a million dollars. EcoPlan's substantive contribution to the study centered on the creation of an international transportation database, as well as a survey of both new ways in which cars were likely to be used as well as the results of their competition, including for urban space, with other transportation modes. Once again, and per-haps not surprisingly, one of our main the findings underscored the fast evolving synergistic linkages between transportation systems and new developments in electronics and communications.

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CHARM: Computer-Helped Area-Wide Regional Mobility System (1978)

The objective of this proposal as originally set out in 1978 was to suggest how was going to be possible to harness the then emerging microcomputer technologies and telephone system innovations to provide a more "free form" Dial A Ride Type service that could eventually provide appropriately dense and flexible vehicle sharing in outlying, lower density rural areas. The initial point of departure for this concept was the realization that by dint of their low population densities rural areas are poorly suited to any of the traditional forms of public transportation. Furthermore, as the rural population in many areas of Europe was aging, relatively poorer and yet further thinning out in terms of density as younger and more. Yet another key piece of the problem is being posed by the continuing disappearance of stores and services in many rural communities, which is greatly increasing the distances that people need to travel in order to meet their daily needs. Translated in today's technology (1978), the core of the proposal is dynamic, multi-level ride sharing combining both participating private vehicles and group taxi services. Intended to work best for trips that can be planned at least 24 hours in advance - which incidentally account for more than 90% of all trip types which need such service - the core of the system is a "Minitel-like" bulletin board service that can be consulted and used by "club" members. Back to top

The European Paratransit Experience (1981)

This report was prepared for the Office of Policy Research the United States Department of Transportation and published in October 1981 through their Technology Sharing Pro-gram. This project surveyed developments of both less traditional transportation forms with a high information content, including demand responsive services, new kinds of taxi systems, and Carsharing, as well as other forms of vehicles sharing, including car pools and bus pools. The objectives of the project, in its own words, were to: "unravel some of the controversy concerning paratransit and specifically to show how a variety of relatively low-cost, innovative transportation concepts are being tried out in Europe, and what roles they might play in the future." Over the course of the 18 months collaborative research program behind the reports, the number of working papers, field trips, brainstorming sessions were organized and shared with the various participants. Back to top

TaxiCom '85: Taxi-Based Paratransit Technology/Operations Packages in Europe (1985)

This report maps the development of TaxiCom systems in Europe since their first appearance in 1978, and assesses applications and implications for operators, communities and transport planners at local, regional and national levels. It has been prepared specially to inform communities, operators, suppliers, policy makers and other interested parties of the situation of this new industry, its state-of-the-art and its potential. TaxiCom is a term coined by EcoPlan in 1985 to cover a wide and increasing range of computer, commuter and communication technologies applied or applicable to the taxi industry. In a stricter, technical sense, it encompasses computer dispatch, mobile data transmission, fleet management, accounting and management software, PABX telephone systems, "smart" taximeters, cellular/GSM communications, magnetic card readers, vehicle location systems and a host of similar related technologies. If the full potential of these technologies is harnessed, TaxiCom, in its broader sense, can be a vital means of reshaping the way in which taxis operate and the way in which taxis are viewed by both the community and public sector. (Report distributed in 5000 copies by the United States Department of Transportation's Technical Assistance and Technology Sharing Programs.)

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ACCESS - New Approaches to Transport in Cities (1989-present)

EcoPlan initially established ACCESS in 1989 as an international collaborative and exchange program aimed directly at the challenge of first defining and then implementing sustainable transportation systems. The program built on more than two decades of cross-disciplinary work with the problems of transportation, the economy, energy, environment, industry and quality of life, and more generally with the broader challenges of managing technology in society. The point of departure for ACCESS was the obvious conflict between cars and cities. But that was only the point of departure. The first step in this process was to recognize a gradually growing uneasiness that something has gone badly wrong: that private cars no longer work particularly well in cities -- or at least not all cars in all cities. This hard fact is proving awkward for planners and policy makers alike. Despite the accumulating problems they have brought in their wake, cars continue to perform a variety of functions and are perceived by many people as absolutely essential to their daily lives. As a result they have been planned into the system. And now that they are in there, their extreme complexity of function effectively rules out any easy solutions. For this reason we cannot in most places sensibly talk about cities without cars -- but rather places with fewer and much better managed cars.

The problem of cars in cities is, in truth, part of a much broader set of social and technology management issues which are now coming into increasingly high relief. The links to pressing environmental and energy concerns are obvious and critical, as are impacts on quality of life, safety, urban form and economic efficiency. More subtle are the linkages between cars and human behavior, including such problems as urban isolation and alienation, violence and rejection of responsibility, and loss of human vitality, intimacy and neighborliness. A great deal of good work is going on in many places around the world aimed at parts of this complex problem, but most of this is neither widely known nor fully appreciated. It was against this background that ACCESS was established, with the goal of developing a long term (ten year), independent and vigorous international collaborative effort, untrammeled by bureaucratic requirements and run on an open basis with creative inputs and support from a wide variety of individuals, sources and institutions. Among the many products that have come out of this program we would note the following proprietary materials prepared for commissioning clients:

• The Access Planner's Handbook and Guide
• Access Checklist of Tools, Measures And Policy Options
• Access Source Book of Planning & Policy References
• International Access Network Directory
• Access Fact Sheets and Implementation Guidelines

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Smart Transit Systems: Present Status, Future Prospects -- (1989/1990)

At intervals of about 10 years the opportunity presents itself for us to take another fresh look at the prospect for developments in the area of high-technology guideway system. Thus in 1989, we carried out in cooperation with Trans-21 a multiclient project which identified approximately 90 so-called "smart" or people-mover systems and operations around world and attempted to provide, in addition to extensive reliable and up-to-date information on each of the systems, some form of overall commentary and perspective to serve perspective suppliers and public sector agencies facing possible decisions in this area. Based on an extensive series of international field trips and site visits and supported by this research and number of workshops, the project team prepared several editions of the three volume report over the two years that the project covered. From the user or city perspective, prospects do not appear to be bright as circumstances are favoring quite different and less expensive, more integrated approaches... Our bottom-line conclusion: there is money to be made possibly in several niche markets, but overall this is extremely difficult area to make a buck and will probably end up costing most firms who wish to enter the market more time, trouble and money to try to penetrate it than it will ever bring them

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End of the Road: From World Car Crisis to Sustainable Transportation (1991/2)

The aim of this book which was commissioned by EcoPlan and based on our work is to make people think about a problem in their daily lives which many ignore or dismiss too lightly. The authors attempts rather to explore the hidden complexities of a problem of our times which the author refers to as "the subtle price tag of technology". And it gives the reader hope in suggesting thirty-three concrete steps we can take to decrease our dependence on cars and improve the quality of our lives. The book tries to convey all this technical information in jargon free, vivid language, which incorporates humor, poetry, and many quotes from literature. Lester Brown of the Worldwatch Institute calls it "a clear, comprehensive, and eminently readable manual for the overhaul of the long benighted realm of transportation". Jane Jacobs wrote: "It is a splendid book, full of wonderful and useful information (among which I count the extraordinary illustrations). It ought to do much good." It is a very personal book aimed at the responsible citizen. Published simultaneously in November 1991 by Chelsea Green in the U.S. and Lutterworth Press in the U.K., and in Italian by Muzzio Editore (Padua) in November 1992. Paperback second edition published in December 1992.

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Transport In Cities (1992)

A forty minute video lecture featuring Brian Richards as author/guide, presenting his ideas and personal views in a series of slides and film excerpts drawn from many areas of the world. The presentation is aimed at a broad public, including city planners, public authorities, transport specialists, students, the media, concerned citizens and public interest groups. The video opens by examining the role cars have played in shaping our cities. It then looks at remedial actions such as parking controls, car bans, and road pricing as ways to restrain the private automobile. It goes on to show ways in which cities can replace private cars by other means of transport. The video examines not only conventional public transport such as buses and light rail, but also less conventional means such as taxis, dial-a-rides, car pools, and telecommunications. This is followed by a discussion of cycling and walking and finally of ways to arrange our cities by intermingling work and residences to avoid unnecessary movement. The film shows cities from all over the world with their own examples of how to handle this problem. [An adapted Spanish language version of the film has been produced during the Bilbao project; it is now also available under the ACCESS program.]

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TaxiCom '95: International Survey of Leading Innovational Taxi Communications and Operations Approaches (1995)

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@ccess on the Web:The Sustainable Transportation Forum (1995)

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• This page is still in process. An additional dozen or so benchmark reports and projects to be added, most of which taking place in the last dozen years, including:
• Automatic Vehicle Monitoring and Location Systems in Public Transport (1975)
• Differential Emissions Standards (1972 brainstorming piece for OECD, with Robert Ayres)
• Access Bilbao (1992)
• Ciudades Accessibles (1994, national program of the Spanish government, with Leber)
• Ciudades Accesibles (1995, with Leber)
• Bilbao 2001: International ITS Congress and Exposition (1999, with Leber)
• AB2010 - The Bilbao Regional Access Forum (1997, with Leber)
• Cities without Cars (1988)
• "The Cities Business" (1989)
• World People Mover Survey (1991)
• OECD cooperation on EST program (1993-present)
• Adelaide into the Eighties: Policy and Project Recommendations
• Aerotrain, the SNCF & the Public Interest: A Case Study of Conflict
• Automatic Vehicle Monitoring Systems: World Prospects
• Choosing Europe's Energy Future: Challenges and Opportunities for the Nineties
• City Center Environment & Transportation in Five European Cities
• Competition Survey of the World Helicopter Industry
• Corporate Plan for Tire and Retread Industry in Western Europe
• Development Prospects for Transport Sector in Brazil
• EDP Markets and the European Computer Industry
• Electric Vehicle Development Prospects in France: Impact Assessment
• Energy, Growth and the Environment: A Three-Pronged Policy Strategy
• Future of the Urban Bus: World Survey of Markets and Products
• Future of the Urban Bus: Expanding the Sphere of Opportunities
• Long Term Energy Plan for Argentina (Contributor)
• Long Term Energy Strategies in a Sustainable World (with Holger Rogner)
• Market Prospects for Alternative Energy Sources
• MATS: Guidelines for a Multi-Modal Area-Wide Transportation System
• Mobile Communications Systems Futures: Europe
• Natural Gas Scenarios: Europe's Uncertain Energy Future
• New Strategies for the Finance of Urban Transport
• Opportunities for Automotive Suppliers in Brazil
• Paratransit: Survey of International Experience and Prospects
• Pressure Points for Management of the Urban Environment
• Privatization in International Transport: Techniques and Impacts
• Privatization in Urban Transportation: International Survey
• Product and Market Strategies for CV Suppliers to Latin America
• Putting Paratransit into Perspective: New Approaches for Urban Mobility
• Rail Safety Research in Europe: Present Status, Future Trends
• Rethinking Transportation: Alternatives to Inefficient Physical Displacements
• Small Business Computerization Studies
• Supplier Opportunities in the French Rail Sector: A Survey
• Survey of Advanced Technology Dispatching and Fleet Management Systems: Product Prospects, Markets, Competition
• Survey of Impacts of Privatization Movement in Europe
• Technology and Business Opportunities in the Taxi Industry: An International Survey
• Transportation Planning and the Public Interest: Case Studies
• Transportation Systems Management in Europe: Lessons for the US
• World Telecommunications Industry Prospects
• World Transit Survey: International Markets & Corporate Strategies
• World Transit Survey: Projects, Markets and Opportunities at a Time of Rapid Technological Change

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