Message from the AET Chair

Dear Fellow AET Members,

In this first article since I took over as Chair of the AET Board, I would like to start by paying tribute to my predecessor Professor Pierluigi Coppola. Pierluigi has made an enormous contribution to the Association over many years as Board
member and later as Chair.

He has been instrumental in establishing our peer review process for conference papers at the European Transport Conference (ETC), has driven our publications programme, re-vitalised our Ambassadors’ network, helped to maintain our relationship with a range of international organisations, and facilitated the move of the conference to Milan.

The original plan was to be in Milan in 2020 and 2021 but the pandemic forced us to hold two online conferences. These were very successful events and attracted over 500 delegates in both years.

They received excellent feedback from delegates who highlighted the quality of the papers and the professionalism of the organisation but opportunities for networking and connecting with people were limited.

During the 2021 conference, there was a sense that people had grown tired of the online environment and the absence of personal meetings was felt more strongly.

So we were very grateful that our partners at the Politecnico di Milano stayed connected with us throughout this difficult time and allowed us to stage our 2022 conference at the Bovisa Campus two years later. It felt particularly important to re-establish ETC as an in-person conference this year as we were celebrating our 50th conference.

In planning the event, our big worry was that people would not come, that employers would maintain travel restrictions and that the willingness to spend time and money for in-person meetings had changed permanently. But almost 600 delegates attended and it was great to see so many familiar and new faces.

I always find that this conference, with its unique blend of perspectives from academics, decision makers and practitioners, re-ignites my enthusiasm for the subject of transport planning.

Key Themes & Sessions

This year we had a great, packed programme and some of our key themes were very topical:

• The Future of Cities: Emerging new travel and land use patterns
• Behaviour Change: The impacts of the climate emergency and COVID-19 on long term travel patterns
• Travel Data: When will new travel patterns be stable enough to inform modelling and forecasting?
• COVID Recovery: Funding and financial sustainability of public transport
• The Future of Aviation: Compatibility of recovery and sustainability

We had two plenary sessions. During the opening plenary, delegates were welcomed by Professor Marco Bocciolone, our host from the Polytechnic. This was followed by two prominent speakers. Arianna Censi, City Councillor for Mobility in
Milan, gave a great introduction to the transport challenges in the city.

Rolf Diemer, Head of Unit Economic Analysis & Better Regulation at DG Move of the European Commission talked about EU transport policy in times of the COVID pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

In the second plenary we heard from Professor Ennio Cascetta from the Universitas Mercatorum in Italy and MIT in Massachusetts and Professor Tae Oum from the University of Vancouver and President of the World Conference on Transport Research Society.

Professor Cascetta took us back 10,000 years to give a fascinating overview of the six historical revolutions for transport and to outline the key challenges and drivers of the coming seventh revolution. Professor Oum highlighted the future
transport research needs in the changing global economic and political environment.

Special Features

We had a number of special features and events to mark the 50th conference. Michael Bach authored a celebratory pamphlet which included a retrospective of the last 50 years and highlighted the future challenges for ETC. Andy Costain, former managing director of PTRC, the original organiser of the conference, led a special session of reflections with contributions from Daniel le Maire and Sally Scarlett.

Also to mark the event, the inaugural AET Awards were presented, which were instituted to celebrate those who have made an exceptional contribution to the Association. The first set of awards went to Sally Scarlett (Honorary Fellowship),
Broos Baanders (Fellowship) and Jeff Howard (Excellency Award).

One of the few positives to come out of the pandemic was a series of monthly online seminars hosted by AET, first focussed on the impact of COVID on transport and now renamed the Transport and Mobility Forum (TMF) and continued
as a monthly online event. TMF held a debate under the heading “Perspectives on the Changing Transport Sector” as well as a presentation and feedback session at the conference. TMF already has an agreed programme of further monthly seminars stretching to July 2023.

Our technical visits this year were organised by the Azienda Trasporti Milanesi, who offered a visit to the historic Messina Tram Depot and to the Metro Line 1 control room. Also on offer was a visit to the Politecnico di Milano Driving Simulator.

Our social programme included a drinks reception, the conference dinner, a bike tour organised by Bici e Vacanze, a scooter tour organised by Tier and the ETC Running Club. Those who stayed on Friday evening after the conference could take dinner while travelling through Milan in the Tram Ristorante ATMosfera.

I am very grateful to all those who have made the conference possible with their enthusiasm and commitment, including the Politecnico di Milano as our hosts, our conference organisers TfTP, colleagues on the AET Board and Council, our ambassadors’ network and the programme committees.

A special heartfelt thank you goes to Sally Scarlett who first got involved in ETC in 1979 and who has decided to retire after this conference. Sally will be known to most readers as the face of the conference over many decades.

Her tireless effort on behalf of ETC and AET over so many years, her dedication and constant availability will be missed. Above all, we will miss her wise counsel and good company but we wish her a long and happy retirement.

Hermann Maier
Chair of AET Board