Vision, Analysis, and Future Pathways in Transport Research

Congestion, environmental and health problems are all rising in the transport sector. This article focuses on the contribution of economics, particularly environmental economics, to the analysis, and in particular to the quantitative analysis of transport systems and transport policy in tackling such problems. Starting out with a historical review of transport perspectives, the importance of both overall coherence as well as the time period it may take for a particular vision to materialise are then illustrated. Promising current research issues are identified, and related developments in quantitative modelling and data availability are discussed.