‘Abolish the DfT,’ says UK Transport Systems Catapult boss

Radical steps to improve travellers’ experience of transport in the UK were proposed at ITS International’s MaaS Market conference in London this week. In the keynote speech on day one of the two-day event, UK Transport Systems Catapult CEO Paul Campion said that the public doesn’t really care about transport – all they really want is to get where they are going. “It’s a necessary evil,” he told delegates. “We travel to come to work, to a conference, to take the kids to school – it’s a distress purcha
March 21, 2019 Read time: 2 mins
Radical steps to improve travellers’ experience of transport in the UK were proposed at ITS International’s 8545 MaaS Market conference in London this week.


In the keynote speech on day one of the two-day event, UK 7800 Transport Systems Catapult CEO Paul Campion said that the public doesn’t really care about transport – all they really want is to get where they are going.

“It’s a necessary evil,” he told delegates. “We travel to come to work, to a conference, to take the kids to school – it’s a distress purchase.”

Musing on the fact that it is 100 years since the forerunner of the UK’s current Department for Transport (DfT) was created, Campion added: “I think we should abolish the DfT – we need a ‘Department for Getting to Work on Time’.” His joking point was that, once you define transport as something that needs a governmental department, then the inevitable development is sub-departments in silos, which are “almost in competition with each other”.

MaaS Market London continues today, with speakers including Michael Hurwitz, head of transport innovation at Transport for London, and Crissy Ditmore, director of strategy at Cubic Transportation Systems.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • MaaS Market London: rising tide won’t lift all transport providers
    January 30, 2019
    In his keynote address to the second day of ITS International’s MaaS Market Conference (London, 20-21 March), connected vehicle expert Frederic Bruneteau will consider ‘The harsh reality of urban mobility: Winners and losers in the MaaS value chain’. The founder and managing director of Ptolemus Consulting, Bruneteau will argue that while Mobility as a Service (MaaS) may replace 2.3 billion car journeys by 2023, not all service providers will benefit – evidence of which is becoming increasingly apparent.
    Read More
  • Wellington embraces smart parking solution
    February 22, 2018
    A smart parking solution can ease pain for drivers and increase efficiency for local authorities - and New Zealand’s capital is feeling the benefit. Adam Hill reports. ITS technology has the power to ease headaches for local authorities and car drivers alike when it comes to parking. For urban dwellers, few things are more irritating than driving slowly around crowded city centre streets, anxiously searching for a parking space – indeed, in congested downtown areas, as much as 30% of traffic can be driving
    Read More
  • Big wheels keep on turnin’
    August 21, 2018
    Many of the great and the good in the global mobility sector gathered at this year’s Movin’ On event in Montreal. Measured regulation of technologies and safety issues were major themes, reports David Arminas. *Bibendum is the original name for the Michelin Man, the symbol of the Michelin tyre company Autonomous vehicles, platooning, smart intersections and safety – these were the talking points over two-and-a-half days of the Movin’ On event in Montreal, Canada. Everyone in the mobility sector is at the
    Read More
  • Motown morphs into Mobility City
    August 7, 2018
    Detroit was once a byword for urban decay – but ITS America recently held its annual meeting there. This gave David Arminas a chance to assess how fast Motor City is moving down the road to recovery. Motor City, as Detroit is still called, was on its financial knees only five short years ago. The future looked bleak as the city and greater urban area bled jobs and population. It was on 18 July 2013 that Motown, as Detroit is also known, filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection, the
    Read More

Highlighted Content