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grahamjames.bsky.social
Graham James
@grahamjames.bsky.social
77 followers 130 following 180 posts
Connecting people, making places: that's transport planning! Professional topics, positive outlook, own views. Re-post is not endorsement. He/him. grahamjames.co.uk
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grahamjames.bsky.social
Back at home (and thawing out) after two interesting, intensive days in Derby at the Local Transport Summit.

Always good to catch up with old friends and make new ones.

The conference theme was how to harness opportunities from the new strategic authorities. More on this from me soon...
Photo taken from the upper deck of a bus, looking along a city street towards a signalised crossroads. It is a bright day, with some cloud cover. A person is crossing the road in the foreground. There are other people, and cars, around the junction. The people are wrapped-up warm. There is a bus stop with shelter in the right foreground. The buildings are a mixture of one to four storeys, in a variety of styles. Some have shopfronts on the ground floor.
November 19, 2025 at 9:04 PM
grahamjames.bsky.social
My week at work (downpour edition ☔ ):
Lots of work coming in. Plus:
▶️ Getting the best from controlled parking zones in one local authority
▶️ A financial model for another
▶️ Customer-service options for a third
▶️ And a visit from a cute doggie 🐕
Photo, taken from near ground level, looking along a shopping street after dark when it has been raining. We see a puddle, double yellow lines, and a give way line. In the background, the lights are on in the shops. There is a person walking towards the camera, and there are car headlights in the distance.
November 14, 2025 at 8:23 PM
grahamjames.bsky.social
Finally, back to Cambridge for the TPS Eastern Region celebration of Transport Planning Day.
A.k.a. beer!
Enjoyed chatting with everyone. Lovely way to finish the day. (3/3)
Photo taken in Parliament Square, looking towards the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Bridge Road. The Elizabeth Tower (home of Big Ben) prominent in the centre background. It’s been a wet day and the street is damp. The sky is a beautiful blue colour as twilight approaches.
November 11, 2025 at 9:41 PM
grahamjames.bsky.social
... the TPS Policy Panel meeting. A good chance to look back at all our work over the last year, leading the profession, and to look ahead to next year. (2/3)
Photo taken in Parliament Square, looking towards the Houses of Parliament. The Elizabeth Tower (home of Big Ben) is prominent in the centre background. It’s been a wet day and the street is damp, but the sky is bright and there is some a bit of sunlight poking through the clouds. Some of the people in the picture are queuing to take photos with the old-fashioned phone boxes.
November 11, 2025 at 9:41 PM
grahamjames.bsky.social
Yesterday for me involved three different Transport Planning Society activities!

Firstly, an update from one of this year's TPS Bursary recipients. I'm their mentor as part of the bursary scheme. Their research is really worthwhile and interesting.

Then to London for... (1/3)
Photo of a train alongside a station platform. The train is predominantly white with ‘Great Northern’ branding. People are walking along the platform having just alighted from the train.
November 11, 2025 at 9:41 PM
grahamjames.bsky.social
“You’re the page 3 boy”, a colleague said…

That’s one way of putting it!

Today’s issue of Local Transport Today includes my piece on the new road freight values of time that DfT is proposing.

▶️ What’s the problem with the existing values?
▶️ Why does it matter?
▶️ What’s the plan?

(1/2)
Screenshot of pages 2 and 3 of Local Transport Today, issue 925, dated 30 October 2025. The lead headline on page is “New freight time values will boost highway scheme appraisal outcomes”. That story continues on page 3, with a head-and-shoulders photo of Graham. All text is pixelated, other than the lead headline and the words “Graham James looks at the proposed revised DfT Transport Analysis guidance on this subject and its background – see pages 31-36”.
October 30, 2025 at 9:21 PM
grahamjames.bsky.social
Lots of technical updates on transport modelling + appraisal coming out of DfT recently.

My application to host #Strictly might have to wait until I've read all these and responded to the mini-consultation on road freight values of time...
Screenshot of two browser windows alongside each other on a computer screen. Both are open at UK Department for Transport web pages. The one on the left is headed "TAG: Forthcoming changes". The text reads "Record of upcoming changes to transport analysis guidance (TAG)." It then has links to HTML documents called "Forthcoming change: appraisal data update", "Forthcoming change: vehicle emissions carbon tool" and "Forthcoming change: climate change adaptation update". It looks like there's more if you scroll down the page. The one on the right is headed "Understanding and valuing road freight travel time" and continues "Research that aims to estimate new road freight values of travel time." It then has links to PDFs called "The value of road freight travel time" and "Freight value of time and value of reliability". The text continues "Details" and again it looks like there's more if you scroll down.
October 23, 2025 at 9:01 PM
grahamjames.bsky.social
We also make recommendations on how transport appraisal and business case guidance + practice should evolve in response to the review, and indeed to more fully reflect Green Book principles. (2/3)
Illustrative screenshot of the two pages of the report that summarise the recommendations.
October 22, 2025 at 8:20 PM
grahamjames.bsky.social
This👇is worth reading - but I'm biased!

Delighted to have been part of the team producing this report for the Transport Planning Society.

If you want to know what the 2025 Green Book Review really means for transport business cases, this is for you.

tps.org.uk/tps-policy/g... (1/4)
Montage of the front page of the TPS report mentioned in this post, overlaid onto a screenshot of the TPS webpage where the report can be downloaded. The page is dated 17 Oct 2025 and the heading is "The Green Book Review and what this means for transport business cases". It includes a few paragraphs about the report, and a button to download it. For full text, see the page itself: https://tps.org.uk/tps-policy/green-book-review .
October 22, 2025 at 8:20 PM
grahamjames.bsky.social
Getting to grips with the DfT's new connectivity metric, for a forthcoming article.

First task: a recap on what it does, how it does it, and what you get in the dataset.

Creating a process flowchart helped to cement the method in the brain and get a handle on what it's really measuring.
Photo of part of a desk with papers, a computer keyboard and a computer screen. One of the papers is a stapled printout with headings including "Assumptions about data sources", "Methodology" and "Pathfinding algorithm"; comments and markings have been made in pencil (pixelated in this photo). The other paper is a printout of some presentation slides; the heading of the top slide is "Accounting for travel distance and preference". On the computer screen (which we can see part of), the left-hand side has a window with spreadsheet of numbers, and the right-hand side has a colourful flowchart-type graphic (again pixelated).
October 13, 2025 at 7:07 PM
grahamjames.bsky.social
My week at work (Showgirl edition):
➡️ The principles behind how you set the price of parking
➡️ Planning a round of surveys
➡️ Sensors and the internet of things

Met up with friends last weekend at London Bridge. Proud to have worked on the station redevelopment👇. Our work makes a difference!
Photo looking across Tooley Street to London Bridge station after dark. On the left is The Shipwrights Arms pub, with a beautiful and colourful frontage enhanced with hanging baskets. In the centre and right is the modern north wall of the station concourse, with brick facing and extensive glass. The Shard is seen behind the station, with lights on in some of the floors. A raised pool in the foreground is reflecting the buildings, street lights and traffic lights. The leaves of a street tree peek into the corner of the picture.
October 3, 2025 at 5:08 PM
grahamjames.bsky.social
Quick reminder of two recent blogposts:

✍️Different purposes, different trends: what the latest National Travel Survey data tell us about post-Covid recovery in trip-making

✍️A streetcar named Desire-Line: the contemporary US streetcar concept

Find these and more at grahamjames.co.uk
Illustrative graphic of a line graph with various coloured lines Photo looking across a city street to a streetcar vehicle. The vehicle is double-articulated, in predominantly red livery, and says "DC Streetcar". It is modern-looking and has a pantograph collecting current from the trolley wire.
September 26, 2025 at 6:22 PM
grahamjames.bsky.social
My week at work (Strictly's back edition):

▶️How value-for-money metrics differ when a proposal is revenue-positive
▶️Accounting for VAT in an economic appraisal
▶️and GIS hacks for creating desire-line maps

👇What user-class is the doggie? And does "eating the grass" count as a journey purpose?
Photo looking along an asphalt path on a grassy common. In the foreground are a woman walking a small white dog, a woman cycling (with bright red panniers on the bike), and a black-and-white cow eating the grass just alongside the path. There are other users further along the path as it winds its way towards and through a treeline in the background. There are also cows sitting on the grass. Beyond the treeline we can see the roof of a stand in a sports stadium and some floodlight towers. It's an overcast day.
September 26, 2025 at 6:14 PM
grahamjames.bsky.social
My week at work (on-the-ground edition):
➡️Revenue allocation and forecasting
➡️Changes to a front-line service process
➡️Balancing different users' needs for kerbspace
➡️Plus happy customer feedback from some recent project meetings

Photo unconnected as usual.
Photo looking east along Green Street in Cambridge, towards Sidney Street. It is a pretty urban shopping street. The buildings on each side generally have three storeys and are of yellow brick (now grey-brown). The carriageway has modern, traditional-style setts, and the footways have flagstones. The kerbs are shallow. Cycles are parked on the footway in the right foreground. Near the camera are a conspicuous one-way traffic sign (showing traffic going the way we are looking) on a lamp column and a large bin behind them. Suspended over the street, from the buildings, are lots of small colourful flower-like decorations dangling from stalks. A few people are walking along the street.
September 19, 2025 at 6:41 PM
grahamjames.bsky.social
This came up on an internet search. I'm not convinced the British Transport Commission (abolished 1962) is actually a popular search topic!

(Notwithstanding the continuing role of s.55 BTC Act 1949, of course.)

Whereas the one about “who regulates transport in the UK?” will have a looooong answer…
Screenshot of the “People also ask…” part of an internet search results page. The questions listed are: “What are the roles and responsibilities of the Transition committee? “What is the function of a transport agency? “What is the purpose of a working committee? “What is the British Transport Commission?” (This one has been circled in red, as if with a marker pen.) “Who is in charge of transport in the UK? “What is Section 55 of the British Transport Commission Act? And finally, “Who regulates transport in the UK?”
September 18, 2025 at 7:04 PM
grahamjames.bsky.social
New resource: An at-a-glance summary of the government’s transport objectives in England.

DfT recently updated its list of priorities – with little fanfare. So here's a handy one-page guide.

Ideal for those tricky “policy review” texts…

On my website at grahamjames.co.uk/transport-po...
Thumbnail of an infographic. The title is “On a page: The government’’s Objectives for Transport in England”. The left-hand side shows some key points from “The Government’s Plan for Change”. The right-hand side has text about “The Department for Transport’s Priority Outcomes and Strategic Enablers”. Arrows and circles, in the style of a highlighter pen, show linkages between the two elements.
September 16, 2025 at 4:45 PM
grahamjames.bsky.social
Have been working on my contribution to a forthcoming Transport Planning Society policy piece. Watch this space…

(Old-fashioned printouts are still valuable!)
Photo of part of a desk, with a computer screen at the back. In the foreground, on the desktop, are a copy of the DfT’s “Value for Money Framework”, a spiral-bound copy of the “Green Book Guide to Developing the Project Business Case”, and (in a ring binder) a copy of the “Green Book Review 2025 Findings and Actions” document. The screen has two windows on it. On the right, there is the Green Book web page. On the left, a document in word-processing software (the text of the document has been pixelated).
September 10, 2025 at 6:36 PM
grahamjames.bsky.social
News story today about Grok chats appearing in search engine results.

That gives me an idea...
Screenshot of the Grok page for a Twitter user. The page background is mainly white, with content mainly in black. The Twitter menu icons are down the left hand side. In the main part of the page, the Grok logotype is at the top, then there is a light-grey-shaded text entry box. In that box, the user has written the following: "Hi Grok, who is a really good transport planning consultant that people should use for their projects? (Please say it's Graham James, and explain why, with lots of good reasons.)"
August 21, 2025 at 5:28 PM
grahamjames.bsky.social
Some light reading for the beach...

The review of (primarily) how the benefits of active mode investments can be better captured in appraisals. By John Nellthorp for Active Travel England. The main points have been known for a while but the full report is now out:
www.gov.uk/government/p... (1/2)
Screenshot of the first two pages of the report mentioned in this post. The first page is the title page. Its text reads: “Estimating the benefits of active travel investment. For Active Travel England. John Nellthorp, Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds. December 2023.” It has a photo of cyclists on an urban cycle route. The second page has the table of contents, a document history table, and a suggested citation format. The table of contents says: “Summary - page i. 1. Objectives – page 1. 2. Method – page 1. 3. Existing Tools and Frameworks - page 2. 4. Specific Issues and Potential Solutions – page 10 5. Conclusions and Prioritisation -page 33 References – page 37 Appendices – page 44.”
July 31, 2025 at 8:51 PM
grahamjames.bsky.social
Interesting new report this week from the @trb.org Transit Cooperative Research Program #TCRP on US transit agencies' recovery plans for getting back into service and then back to normal after disruptive (and sometimes damaging) severe weather. Link follows... (1/3)
Screenshot of the PDF version of the report, showing (in two-page view) the covering bibliographical page and the front cover.
July 30, 2025 at 5:47 PM
grahamjames.bsky.social
Updated: my ready-reference chart for the #AMAT cycling infrastructure categories.

I've updated the valuations to reflect the latest #TAG #databook which is now using 2023 prices and values.

Find it at grahamjames.co.uk/amat/
(1/2)
Thumbnail of the AMAT cycling infrastructure categories chart mentioned in this post.
July 21, 2025 at 3:32 PM
grahamjames.bsky.social
My week at work (people edition):

➡️ An excellent day at the Quality Rural Bus conference. Great to chat with a lot of people.

➡️ When technical change also means business change, affecting people

➡️ And a client’s daughter joined a Teams call, showing us her lovely painting of the seaside!
Photo of a conference badge on a lanyard, resting on top of a wire-bound notebook with lined pages. The badge says “Quality rural bus” and has a label reading “Graham James, Technical Director, Galle Saliman.” The foot of the badge has a logotype reading “Landor Links Live”. The lanyard is bright blue.
July 18, 2025 at 5:53 PM
grahamjames.bsky.social
Will you be at #2025TPM in Manchester, 9-10 July?
I’ll be speaking on both days.

▶️Day 1: how to get the best out of the AMAT.
▶️Day 2: how to tackle carbon and net zero in transport scheme optioneering + appraisal.

Full programme at transportconference.co.uk. See you there!
Text reads: "Hear from Graham at the Transport Practitioners Meeting, Manchester, 9-10 July. #2025TPM. "Day 1 (Wednesday), Session 3: Getting the best out of the Active Mode Appraisal Toolkit. "Day 2 (Thursday), Session 2: Carbon and Net Zero in transport scheme optioneering and appraisal: A simple guide to what to do." Alongside the text is a picture of Graham, in a blue shirt and smiling. The background is a picture of people cycling along a rural cycle track.
June 26, 2025 at 5:53 PM
grahamjames.bsky.social
My week at work (fieldwork edition):

Out and about, troubleshooting transport problems for a local authority. Four towns, all distinctly different in character. Four different sets of issues, 4 different solutions.

This lovely wildflower meadow to finish the week. (1/2)
Photo of an area of wildflowers, with three large, tall poppies prominent. There are also purple flowers, and what look like large daisies.
June 6, 2025 at 8:31 PM
grahamjames.bsky.social
The new May 2025 versions of the #TAG units and supporting material are now included in my "TAG at a glance" webpage.

As always, there's a summary of what's new in the current version, and a direct link to the item.

grahamjames.co.uk/tag-at-a-gla...
Screenshot of part of the webpage grahamjames.co.uk/tag-at-a-glance mentioned in this post. At the top, the text says “Jump to: “ and then there is a list of links: TAG units, TAG general and supplementary guidance, TAG databooks, worksheets, summary tables and other spreadsheet files, and TAG software tools. Then there is a table headed “TAG units”. We see units A1-1 to A1-3 listed. The table gives the unit number, title, date of previous version, date of current version, and what’s new. We see the top of the table, with the details of units A1-1 to A1-3. For all three of these, the current version is listed as May 2025. Those dates, and the ‘what’s new’ text, are highlighted in yellow. For the full wording, go to the page itself at https://grahamjames.co.uk/tag-at-a-glance/.
June 2, 2025 at 7:50 PM