England’s Economic Heartland (EEH) and City Science are developing a state-of-the-art strategic multimodal transport model using the power of artificial intelligence.
Utilising Innovate UK funding and working in collaboration with the University of Exeter, our model is leveraging innovative techniques, including AI technologies, to automate and enhance model development processes.
Chair of England’s Economic Heartland, Cllr Liz Leffman, said: “This ground-breaking new model for the region has been made possible by EEH’s strong collaboration with the private sector and universities. It will be a vital tool for EEH and its local and regional partners as we ensure transport is better integrated and investment in schemes such as East West Rail is maximised. By utilising artificial intelligence, we are developing something which can respond quickly to change in an uncertain world, while significantly reducing developmental and operational costs.”
There are eight key advantages driven by this work:
AI innovation allowing more rapid and cheaper updating of models which allows for cheaper updating in line with sudden change
Transport models currently are cumbersome and expensive to update, leaving large periods of time where they may not reflect current trends and behaviours (such as significant uptakes of work from home patterns). Utilising our automated processes, models will be able to be more efficiently updated and allow the modelling and impacts of “black swan” events (such as we saw with the Covid-19 pandemic) being reflected. The climate crisis is likely to impose other sharp and unexpected events that will need to quickly be factored in and planned for - to both mitigate their impacts as well as to further seek opportunities to meet key strategic goals.
Regional Integration for Strategic Infrastructure
Local transport models are powerful planning tools, however transport does not stop at the border of local authorities. This regional approach represents a step change in our ability to more effectively plan transformational change (for example, with the delivery of East West Rail) across a whole region and break down the barriers for effective integration. Strategic interventions and policies that have the potential to completely transform large geographic areas can be properly assessed and modelled. It will support EEH’s partners, including emerging strategic authorities, plan for the future under the new devolution framework.
Consistent Scenario Testing for Economic and Housing Growth Delivery
Our processes are being developed to enable robust and consistent modelling across different scenarios to support key Government objectives. Evidence-led strategic transport planning and modelling is essential to realising the government’s economic growth mission and ensuring that new development is provided for by sustainable multi-modal transport options is central to the changes to the National Planning Policy Framework. This model allows for much more effective testing of different interventions and changes that previously would be harder to quantify or compare.
Cutting the cost of model development
We are aiming to reduce the ongoing costs for the development and updating of strategic transport models. Moreover, we’ve succeeded in leveraging financing from outside the Department for Transport /local transport budgets and generated the potential to support transport modelling work for multiple local authorities.
Strengthening UK expertise & Local SME Involvement
We’ve brought together UK-based expertise, universities and SMEs, which enables UK skills development in key emerging areas, skills reinvestment directly in the UK, and enhances the potential of those skills being used to leverage global markets.
Multimodal Planning for an Integrated & Sustainable Transport System.
The model is putting multi-modal planning at its heart and allows more optimal modelling of integrated transport systems to provide better economic, social and environmental outcomes. In doing so, this work specifically meets two of the DfT’s key priorities: delivering greener transport and better integrating transport networks. It leverages the best available data and AI techniques to provide a whole picture of a region’s transport network, including how well it is integrated, and outputting key metrics for sustainability.
Robust Policy Testing for Measure Impacts Beyond Transport & Planning
The wider systemic scope of the model allows the user to test multiple different policy and infrastructural changes and examine their impacts of the key goals of the authorities. The benefit of this approach is that it will facilitate robust impact assessments of very different types of intervention in a clear and consistent way.
Widening the access of modelling insights to local authorities and reducing resource implications
Transport modelling skills and software requirements are highly specialist and resource intensive, meaning significant barriers exist for local authorities that require transport modelling to support decision making. We believe that widening access to data and insights within local authorities and to decision makers is key to securing positive outcomes. Enabling the wider availability of transport evidence and insights can empower those making decisions whilst easing the pressure on modelling specialists.