Obsession with value of time as main transport saving questioned

Two books by leading transport thinkers, David Metz and Christian Wolmar, led The Spectator magazine to ruminate at some length on transport planning, and specifically why the current way of doing things is so heavily dependent on the value of time as the main justification for major investment in transport infrastructure

Rik Thomas

14 October 2016

On September 24 Spectator columnist Rory Sutherland appraised the value of two books by names well known to LTT readers – David Metz and Christian Wolmar.

“Both books make excellent and related points,” Sutgerland began. “Metz is a proponent of the idea of ‘peak car’… Currently the DfT predicts that car use will grow by another 50% in the next 25 years but, like Metz, I don’t buy it.

“Yet British transport expenditure is based on the...