So I had a really interesting conversation with a transport engineer pal of mine last night.

She spoke of how she worried we’d never have proper investment in active travel because we don’t have adequate data.

She said engineers have access to loads of data about how people drive, where the pinch points are, what works well.

But they have pretty much zero access to any data about how people walk and cycle. It’s like it’s invisible to planners.

Obviously, planners do know that people walk and cycle — but realistically they only know about it in the abstract or from qualitative data.

She worried that for as long as that’s the case, it’ll be impossible to invest in walking and cycling at the same level as driving.

If you’re a planner or an engineer — does this align with your experience?

If you’re not, do you have thoughts on how we can overcome it?