Road pricing in the transport curriculum

When the techniques of the urban transport study were introduced into the U.K. following their development in the U.S.A, in the 1960s, it was soon realised that the training of transport planners required radical change. Transport planning was no longer the domain of highway engineers, but required input from land use planners and economists, social scientists and environmentalists. This led to a fundamental re-think by government, with the result that new postgraduate courses were established. Again, at the end of the century, the subject of transport planning is changing. Developing areas include the wider adoption of priorities for public transport, traffic calming measures, and the implementation of realistic demand management plans. At the same time, development of Intelligent Transport Systems, of vehicle identification and monitoring have made feasible policies, that were hitherto solely hypothetical. Successful implementation of these new policies requires transport planners with new levels of awareness, and for this the curriculum for courses in transport planning must be adapted.