The festive season is my favourite time of year; it is even more of a delight to live in London as the lights turn on, the Christmas trees go up and the mulled wine is warmed. The weather isn’t too bad either if you ask me, better than back home in Calgary with thirty below and three feet of snow! And don’t forget, 15 December is Christmas Jumper Day, a yearly tradition I now cherish since moving here. I have definitely lined up the world’s best/worst ugly Christmas jumper for the festivities, please drop me a line if you would like to see it in all its terrible glory.
This time of year is also the time where we look back over the last 365 and take stock. Did this year turn out the way we intended? Did we reach out goals? What will we work on for next year?
At PTRC we got back to basics. The creation of the Fundamentals of Travel Planning, Technical Report Writing, Mobile Data and Transport Planning, as well as many other great new courses, hit the nail right on the head; lots off encouraging, positive feedback which has given us the momentum to blaze a trail into 2018.
Next year, we’re launching some more courses focusing on the sustainability of living in cities. Overcoming the Challenges of Poor Air Quality will address how local authorities can start to tackle their Air Quality Plans. Kevin Turpin of AECOM will be leading this one, and having seen him at a seminar recently, I think you’re really going to enjoy it.
Another course I’m excited about is Healthy Streets – Encouraging Walking within our Cities. Susan Claris of the Cities Alive project at Arup will be our presenter. This course will give you the fundamental lessons you need in order to be an advocate for walking in your community, local authority or wider government. Walking is so good for you and for the environment; we need to be encouraging more of it!
More information on all of our courses can be found at ptrc-training.co.uk/Training/Book-a-Course
The 15th Annual Transport Practitioners’ Meeting in Nottingham was a huge success. I’m so grateful for all the presenters, attendees, chairs, volunteers and staff who helped with this super fun event. We had over 225 people join us for two exciting days in Nottingham (You can take a look at the recap here…). After last year, I can definitely see why TPM is the meeting place for the profession – and I can’t wait to bring you an even better event for 2018 (although it’s going to be hard to outdo last year!)
For the 16th Annual TPM we will be heading to Oxford 5 – 6 July 2018. This year, we’re expanding the exhibition area, poster presentation area, we’re going to have lots of great hands-on workshops, plenty of networking opportunities and, of course, inspiring paper presentations from across the profession. Will you be one of the industry thought leaders who will be presenting? Submit your abstract for consideration by 25 January 2018.
More information on TPM can be found at www.transportconference.co.uk
All in all, I think 2017 was a great year of learning and growth at PTRC and I look forward to seeing what we can accomplish in 2018.
I wish you all the best for the Holiday Season, the New Year and for all of 2018.