Two years of Reed Mobility – finding a groove
June 2021 marks two years since I founded Reed Mobility. Making the decision to jump from a solid corporate role to independent working was always going to be a risk, even before the pandemic emerged, but our second year of trading has (thankfully) been characterised by growing confidence that this exercise will work for the long term.
In year two, I have been particularly pleased with the partnerships and associations that Reed Mobility has established. Not only do these strengthen our credibility as a small organisation, they also enable Reed Mobility to tap into larger networks and further opportunities to participate in interesting projects and initiatives. They also help to define the areas of the transport sector that represent our interests. I’m looking forward to working across this community further as year three progresses. The association with ADVI also helped secure my involvement in a project with ARRB - Reed Mobility’s first project outside of Europe. In this study, we are working to provide guidance to Australian roads operators on how they can collect, analyse and share data to optimise the safety and efficiency of their networks.
More importantly, it has been a successful year in terms of project outputs. The size of projects completed to date is necessarily commensurate with the size of the organisation. However, some of the projects I have completed this year may end up being some of the most impactful of my career to date. Sadly, at the time of writing, two key project reports are waiting to be published but, when they are available (hopefully summer 2021), I will be able to say more about their conclusions and potential implications.
I was also very happy to be invited to join the esteemed ranks of regular columnists in the TTI magazine (Traffic Technology International), accompanied by an ace caricature of me (see below) commissioned by the editor. My first column (in the June 2021 edition) revisited the topic of smart motorways, discussing whether the growth of negative public opinion towards the concept arises through the perceived ‘loss’ associated with removal of the hard shoulder relative to the perceived ‘gain’ achieved through greater highway capacity and more reliable journey times. Keep an eye out for quarterly updates in TTI where I’ll be covering the intersection between psychology and transportation.
Caricature of Nick Reed commissioned for column in TTI magazine
In terms of resilience, the outlook for projects in the year ahead is solid. Again, at the time of writing, there are several projects about to begin about which I cannot write at present but in which, I am greatly looking forward to participating - working with some fantastic collaborators. Reed Mobility seems to have established a good niche in covering the strategic aspects of new transport technologies – in particular, connectivity, automation and data – helping organisations to understand the societal, economic and ethical implications of their deployment. It’s fascinating to be able to contribute in this way and help to deliver transport systems that are safe, clean, efficient, ethical and equitable - the mission of Reed Mobility!
Finally, after two years, it was also time to update the Reed Mobility website. Thanks very much to the team at Visuable for developing the new look. If you’ve arrived here, you’ll have already seen it – I hope you like it!
Onwards and upwards into year three!